The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
I’ve been busy the past few days and I haven’t checked my Google Alerts for a bit. I noticed this:
Well, well, look who the media’s been talking about in post-election week. more than 3x the number of outlets talking about a gun rights organization as opposed to a gun control organization. Even if the media thinks we took a shellacking in the recent election, they certainly aren’t crediting the win to the irrelevant gun control groups.
Apparently a State Senator in Indiana is all concerned about tannerite. I’m no expert on explosives, but isn’t tannerite a binary explosive? So what is he going to do? Regulate the precursors? All are common chemicals, and at least ammonium nitrate is already regulated if purchased in large amounts. No one is ordering tannerite mixed; that requires hazmat transport, which is expensive. People are ordering the precursors then mixing. The feds love regulating everything, and I think the reason even they haven’t made a move against tannerite is the understanding that such a move would be completely pointless for someone actually intending harm.
The lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia for publishing gun owner details in violation of state law is moving forward:
Attorney Joshua Prince filed a motion this week in Common Pleas Court, requesting that the suit be sealed to avoid revealing the names of his five clients – and potentially hundreds of others if the case is granted class-action status.
In August, the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections introduced a revamped website, featuring a map that allowed users to view the names and addresses of some gun owners in the city, and the specific reasons why they wanted a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
When the information was initially posted, Mayor Michael Nutter actually defended the posted information by saying that once gun owners appealed their license denials, they lost any right to privacy provided by state law and that the information could be obtained like any other public record. However, now Nutter’s office isn’t willing to make such an argument.
In fact, Prince actually went to test the theory by sending someone to the office that published the information with a written request earlier this fall. Not surprisingly, the request was denied because now the City acknowledges that it isn’t public information at all. So, Mr. Nutter, was your spokesman lying then or are your city workers lying now? I guess we’ll find out what the courts think soon.
Didn’t take long for Obama to get started on retribution for our opposition. I also hear ATF is very interested, suddenly, in meeting with NSSF. And let’s not forget that Bloomberg handed the Administration a 40 point plan on how to screw us without needing a damned thing from Congress. Elections have consequences. We’re not going to have much choice other than to bend over and take it.
According to CBS DC. I couldn’t really understand why Obama stood by Holder, given what a liability he was. But if we’ll have a new Attorney General second term, at least that will be some improvement in the Administration.
Obama For America, which is Obama’s magic turnout machine, won’t be transferred to another candidate. As much as one might appreciate the human political talents of Presidents like Ronald Reagan, or Bill Clinton, qualities Obama is generally lacking by comparison, Obama’s talent with the raw mechanics of the political process is unrivaled. Or at the least, he was smart enough to hire very smart people to put the OFA machine together. Many of the things OFA did are truly, and stunningly innovative, and their use of new Information Technology to drive turnout has been unheard of until 2008, and then again in 2012.
If the GOP were smart (which is questionable most days) they would be studying the OFA machine in detail and figuring out how to copy it. Despite the fact that OFA will not be handed off to the next standard bearer of the Democratic brand, the Democrats will still retain significant institutional knowledge from OFA. If the Republicans fail to copy these techniques, it would only further doom them to electoral failure.
Boehner has signaled to the newly re-elected Obama Administration it may be open to raising revenues, A topic of conversation over at Instapundit. Given that 8 out of the 10 wealthiest counties in the US voted to re-elect the President, I’ve been questioning whether the GOP should really preoccupy itself with defending a constituency that doesn’t vote for it. If Obama insists on tax increases for wealthy Americans, why fight it? They voted for it. Let them suffer the consequences of their choice.
We’ll be dealing with Kathleen Kane for the next four years. It’s a safe bet all our reciprocity agreements with other states, if not pulled out from entirely, will at least be revisited to deal with the issue of Pennsylvania residents being able to carry on a foreign license. This will destroy most of our potential carrot for dealing with the problem of Philadelphia abusing its discretion preemptively.
Here’s the other catch: we have two years to fix any issues that come out of the Attorney General’s office. Corbett is wildly unpopular. Unless he pulls a rabbit out of his hat, he’s toast in two years when he’s up for re-election. The Democratic Party has abandoned any pretense of being for gun rights in this state, and is highly unlikely to put up a pro-gun candidate for Governor unless there’s a strong internal push from pro-gun Democrats to moderate the left-wing of the party on this issue.
It gets worse. As many of you may have heard, Kim Stolfer is very sick, and while I expect FOAC to continue, Kim is a tireless bulldog for the issue, and not replaceable. In addition, the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsman’s Clubs, another group that’s traditionally been able to turn people out to Harrisburg when needed has been in disarray since Melody Zullinger got married and moved out of state. We also continue to shed hunters in Pennsylvania, and a lost hunter is often a lost gun owner. I know Gun Culture 2.0 people like derisively label hunters as “Fudds,” but any time I’ve been to Harrisburg, it’s hunters who show up. Fewer hunters means fewer advocates.
So where does that leave us? It is my contention that our lines have been broken. While we are not in retreat currently, we soon will be. The question is whether we do a tactical retreat, fall back, regroup and push forward again, or it ends up being a rout. That’s largely going to depend on what we’re willing to do, and how many people are willing to step up. Writing your reps is well a good, but it will take more to push back what’s coming. Defending gun rights in a deep blue state with a major city full of leftists will not be easy, but it can be done. Just ask folks in Washington and Oregon. But will we? Or will we become New Jersey?
One of Mike Bloomberg’s allies in Mayors Against Illegal Guns who only left the coalition when she had to resign from office when convicted of multiple crimes is in the court system again. After reaching a deal with prosecutors, she’s already in violation of her probation.
Court records show former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has been charged with violating her probation on theft and perjury charges.
Dixon, a Democrat, resigned in 2010 after she pleaded guilty to lying about gifts from her former boyfriend, a developer who received tax breaks from the city. She was also convicted of stealing about $500 in gift cards donated to the city for needy families.
That’s right, Bloomberg’s gun control project had him working with a mayor who stole gifts for families in poverty, and even when the court allowed her probation, she still couldn’t keep herself out of trouble. I guess this means we need to give his project a new nickname – Illegaler Mayors Against Guns.
I think Ace nails it. Especially number 8.