Apparently some Mexican Gun Control Activists have been wandering the country to pin their inability to deal with their own problems on the US gun industry. We’ll do what we can to keep guns from heading South, but that gets to be more difficult when our own government has been facilitating that kind of gunrunning for reasons they still have not been willing to explain.
Year: 2012
On the Late Conflagration in North Africa
Popehat’s been doing a much better job summing up what’s wrong here than I ever could:
- The Heavy Burden of Black And White
- U.S. Embassy In Cairo Apologizes For Our Failure to Execute Blasphemers
I don’t think anyone’s religion should be above criticism, but there’s criticism, and there’s throwing a match on a gasoline soaked keg of powder, by doing it in a way that is bound to be deeply offensive. Eugene Volokh has a link to the poorly acted, low-budget film that lit the fuse. It is critical, but in a deliberately provocative way. Imagine how strong Christians would react to a depiction of Jesus going down on Mary Magdalene? You can bet the reaction would be non-violent, but I wouldn’t blame them for being just as deeply offended as many Muslims will no doubt be upon seeing this video.
This is not to excuse what’s going on in North Africa; the reaction of the mob is unconscionable. But it seems to me this would be not the way to persuade people to adopt more tolerant and less militant interpretations of Islam. This will just drive fence sitters to the militants.
Polling New Jersey Voters on Gun Control
Looks like someone has been spending money to poll New Jersey residents about gun control. The Garden State has among the lowest rates of gun ownership in the country, and people who don’t exercise their rights aren’t going to generally be that concerned with the rights of others. I think most people only support rights they view as affecting themselves positively, and care not a whit for rights values by others if they themselves don’t value them. The solution is to recruit more gun owners. You can see the press release from Rutgers here, which does have some encouraging signs:
Nearly two-thirds of New Jersey voters say controlling gun ownership is more important than gun owner rights. This represents a decline since 1999, when 73 percent preferred gun control over gun owner rights. Today, 72 percent without guns at home say gun control is more important than owner rights, 31 points higher than voters in gun owning households. “The stereotype is that those with guns want nothing to do with restricting their rights,†said Redlawsk. “Here, that also appears mostly true. While many with guns at home say gun ownership should be controlled, a majority thinks owners’ rights should trump. Overall we’ve seen a small move toward the gun owner rights position over time.â€
It’s at least heading in the right direction.
Voters prefer to see the state’s gun laws tightened: 47 percent want stricter laws while 11 percent want them more lax. Twenty-eight percent prefer the status quo. While a plurality would tighten laws, the percentage is down from the 58 percent who wanted stricter laws in 1999. […]
[…]  “While New Jersey is less supportive of gun rights than many places, there has been a conservative trend over the past decade,†noted Redlawsk. “More people are concerned about violence. Most still want gun control, but the number favoring fewer restrictions has clearly grown.â€
Getting some of New Jersey’s laws overturned would probably go a long way to fixing this problem. The poll clearly shows once people are gun owners, their support for restrictions tend to drop. I’d also note that many New Jersey gun owners have little idea that the hell their state puts them through to exercise their right is highly unusual, and is not how things are handled in most other states.
I Think Wintenmute’s Survey Was a Flop
Thirdpower notes that Garen Wintenmute, anti-gun professor and anti-gun activist extraordanire, has released the results of his survey of gun dealers. They note:
The majority of gun dealers and pawnbrokers (54.9 percent) believed it is too easy for criminals to get guns in the U.S. Agreement varied little with age and sex, was somewhat more common among gun dealers than pawnbrokers, and was more common among respondents from corporate/multisite licensees than others.
That’s it? You sent a 12 page questionnaire with 38 questions to gun dealers, and this is the best you can tout, other than some other uncontroversial statistics? Did you ask about any other contentious issues? I’m sure they did. I’m also sure they’d be touting the results of those if the answers had gone the way they wanted them to. I’m going to guess that the results did not go the way they wanted them to.
Raising Money for a Pro-Gun Documentary
Dead Patriot Films is trying to raise 65,000 dollars to finance a new gun rights documentary. Looks to be aimed at the gun control laws in California.
So Here’s a Question: M1 Tank Sales
Why are we selling more tanks to Egypt? I mean, I get that the export variants of the M1 Abrams have hobbled armor options compared to what our boys get to drive, but it’s still a better tank than anything they could buy from the Russians. I don’t see the logic in selling guns to the guy next door who has vowed to shoot you. I mean, not unless you’re suicidal.
It was one thing to sell one of the most advanced tanks in the world to Egypt back when we had a deal with their government for military and humanitarian aid, as long as they acted all nice with the Israelis. But now that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken over the country? Are we really going to keep doing this? Is this that “smart diplomacy” we keep hearing so much about? This is going to either come back to bite us in the ass, or bite the Israelis in the ass. The Administration should have to answer some questions about this, don’t you think?
Time To Boogie Like it’s 1979?
New Federal 2nd Amendment Challenge?
Been involved in a lengthy bit of Devil’s advocacy with a “Constitutional Historian” involved in “a case in the works right now, well-research, and narrowly tailored that uses Presser, Miller, Heller AND McDonald to overturn NFA & Hughes Amendment. Brady/GCA are next to get struck down by the Roberts Court.” That’s generally enough to set off major alarm bells right there. But when you follow up with, “[Alan Gura] lacks complete understanding of the historical premises’ surrounding the 2nd Amendment’s ratification and early case-law,” that really sets off alarm bells.
The diminishment of proven experts, and the elevation of unproven experts, is part and parcel for those who bring bad cases. Additionally, any suit so broad, and depending on cases like Presser v. Illinois, which said precious little about the Second Amendment, and US v. Miller, which was a deeply flawed case to begin with, is pretty much destined to quickly start setting bad precedent the rest of us will have to either live with, or spend a long time waiting to undo.
Taking a machine gun case into the Court system right now is madness. Others have tried it and lost, and now no one in the 8th circuit will ever have machine gun rights. Fincher was convinced he was right, too. That doesn’t win cases. What makes cases like this even more aggravating, is if one of the Heller 5 retires or dies, this kind of case would be the perfect opportunity for Justice Ginsberg to get what she wants; a reconsideration of Heller and McDonald which results in their being reversed, and the Second Amendment being redacted from the Bill of Rights entirely. We are our own worst enemies.
Stay Classy, CSGV
Here I was feeling bad I didn’t really have anything to say about the 11 year 9/11 anniversary, but then I saw this and felt much better. Yes, let’s take attention off the murdered folks at pay attention to their pet cause!
Gun News from Down Under
From an Australian reader, in the comments:
Actually, there have been changes to the gun laws in Oz that could be called “weakening” if you squint the right way.
One example: Some states had a waiting period for both first gun purchase, AND subsequent purchases. Repeatedly pointing out the pointlessness of this resulted in the abolition of the waiting period for those that already held a firearms license.
“Further weakening” may include:
Any handgun with a bore larger than .38 was banned, except for Cowboy Action and Metallic Silhouette competitors – there are moves to repeal that, and allow up to .45 again for IPSC and IDPA.If the “good reason” for possessing a particular firearm is competition in, say, Metallic Silhouette, you cannot use that firearm in any other competition (eg IPSC) and vice versa – there are moves to remove that restriction.
One other change – license applications are now lodged at the Post Office. This supposedly streamlines things. It didn’t, but it will. In general, the discretionary element available to police has been de facto reduced if not de jure.
Progress is progress, and that’s certainly good news, considering it likely greatly displeases a certain person who we should all enjoy displeasing. We tend to see most of the rest of the world heading away from gun rights, but at least for Canada and  Australia, it seems they are coming back a bit.