April 2013 – Page 4 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Some Pics from the PA Capitol

Definitely bigger than previous years, but not overwhelming. I’ve seen the crowd at that rally as large in previous years. A big reason for that, I think, is that PA currently isn’t under threat, given that the GOP controls all three branches of the PA state government, and statements by House leadership and the Governor made it clear early on there wasn’t going to be any of that crap here we’ve seen in neighboring states. Not having to deal with a state fight in the middle of a federal right was hugely beneficial, and we owe Governor Corbett and House leadership a debt of gratitude for holding the line and allowing us to focus federally.

It looks like the big legislation in Pennsylvania now will be preemption enhancements, to actually give it some teeth. It’ll be starting in the Senate, having been introduced by Senator Richard Alloway. While I think preemption enhancement is important, I’d also like to see the state come to a deal on the “Florida Loophole” issue by removing the remaining discretion from LTC issuing authorities, including Philadelphia, granting universal reciprocity to out-of-state licenses, and clarifying that the Attorney General may not alter, modify, or rescind reciprocity agreements except at the behest of the reciprocal state. I’d be willing to trade that for a requirement that PA residents need a PA LTC in order to lawfully carry concealed, rather than a foreign license or permit.

Another, and better alternative to liberalizing the LTC regime, would be to push constitutional carry. But despite the shout outÂ by Rep. Saccone for his billÂ at the rally today, I’m not going to hold my breath that the votes will be there for quite some time. At least we’ve gotten to the point where we’re getting a bill introduced. That, at the least, means there’s enough interest in it among the gun rights community that we’ve become a constituency to be pleased, and that’s a start. But in the mean time we have a city that does not fairly issue and Attorney General who thinks dinkering with longstanding reciprocity agreements is a fun pastime.

Biden Announces New Gun Control Legislation

Not the Biden you’re thinking of. Fresh off a recent legislative victory on banning private transfers in Delaware, Beau Biden wants some more gun control:

The DOJ could then ask a judge to prohibit the person from owning or possessing a gun. The judge also could order the seizure of any guns that the person owns. In the case of a troubled child, authorities could seize any guns owned by a parent or guardian with whom the child is living.

It needs to be adversarial. If my rights are going to be removed, I ought to be able to contest that. If it’s just a judge issuing orders based on the word of government officials, that does not amount to due process in my book, and ought to be unconstitutional.

Also, we have a long tradition in this country of eschewingÂ corruption of blood. It’s interesting that the left, newly emboldened after the late election victory, is slowly trying to do away with limits on governmental power that have served civilized society for hundreds of years. Taking my guns away because my kid is troubled?

With the exception of being a may-issue, but mostly does issue state, Delaware’s gun laws haven’t been too bad for a state that’s been pretty deep blue for a while now. It’s a shame to see that changing so quickly, but it was probably inevitable. The Democrats were afraid to be seen as the Party of Gun Control for the better part of two decades, and so in many of these states there has been an uneasy stalemate. But with Obama declaring the Democrats the Party of Gun Control again, and the Democrats believing the Republicans are finished in states like Delaware, the stalemate is over, and now they are doing to us what they can. Part of this is demographic, especially in states like Delaware. But part of it is the utter failure of the Republican Party in the Northeast, which is now spreading into the Mid-Atlantic states as well.

If gun owners don’t start thinking of ways to turn around some of these states, I expect the divide between the Two Americas I have spoken about here will continue to deepen, with blue states not having gun rights to speak of, and the rest of the country continuing to liberalize their gun control laws. What truly worries me is where Pennsylvania will fall on that divide.

Mass Shooting?

I’m surprised we’re just now hearing about this incident in Seattle. I would have thought they’d be in full on exploitation mode, but I guess since it’s not children, and the shooter used a Joe Biden approved weapon, it doesn’t help the narrative much. Of course, he does have a concealed weapons permit, so I suppose that helps their cause. Though, I’m pretty sure most standard training courses cover the license not giving you any permissions to shoot it out with police.

A Constitution? Who Needs It?

Bloomberg thinks we’re going to have to change what we think of the Constitution after Boston. I think right now the Constitution is more important than ever.

â€œThe people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry,â€ Mr. Bloomberg said during a press conference in Midtown. â€œBut we live in a complex word where youâ€™re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.â€

Our greater level of security that we had back in the “olden days,” is due to the fact that it was a society where people looked out after each other and their own. Today, especially in places like Boston and New York, citizens expect the government to do everything for them, and the more government does, the less it does anything particularly well. Even Boston is illustrative of the utter failure of government. It wasn’t until the lockdown was lifted that an observant citizen decided to take a look in his boat, and sure enough… terrorist in his boat. Again, just like 9/11, it was citizens that caught him, even with all the Forth Amendment violations the police were using. Police work better with an engaged citizenry than a bunch of passive sheep.

What if instead of doing house to house searches they asked everyone to go and inspect their yards, sheds, and yes, boats (as I think most of us would have wanted to do if this had been going on in our neighborhood)? Well, we can’t have that. Someone might get hurt. But having the King’s men spraying bullets all over a suburban neighborhood and pointing guns at the good citizenry while they go door to door searching? Well, you can trust us, we’re professionals, from the government, and here to help.

Greetings to All in Harrisburg

Today is the annual 2nd Amendment Rally. I had actually planned to go this year, even up until a few days ago, because I thought it would be important to make this a big year. But other circumstances have intervened, and to tell the truth, I’m a bit burnt out on gun rights events, and didn’t relish the idea of driving to Harrisburg at 6 in the morning only to have to come back in the afternoon and work until I can’t stay awake anymore. If anyone’s there who can get a good crowd shot, let me know and I’ll post it.

Monday News Dump

It’s just another Manic Monday. Wish it were Sunday. That’s my fun day. But since it’s Monday, a news dump:

Governor Cuomo’s numbers continue to be disappointing. But I thought gun control was popular?

The bomb suspects did not have a gun permit. This is a shock to no one, except the AP, apparently. The media has been using the Boston situation to push gun control.

The Washington Post has an excellent rehashing of NRA’s supposed support for expanded background checks in the 1990s. Apparently the NRA floated an alternate proposal from the one the Clinton Administration wanted, which was unacceptable to the Administration. That effectively killed the bill.

Chris Christie seems to be floating his own gun control package. I guess he doesn’t want to be President.

Schumer says that they have foot soldiers everywhere, even though his rally was astroturf.

Bloomberg and OFA organized protests as well, like this one at Richard Burr’s offices in North Carolina, where 20 people showed up. Three times that number showed up to protest Burr’s cloture vote. A protest against Rubio didn’t look much better. A protest against Eric Canter was even more pathetic.

Some Illinois Lawmakers want to carve out a Chicago exception on concealed carry. I’m sure the courts will be fine with constitutional rights changing with geography.

Philadelphia Mayor Nutter accuses us of dancing on the graves of gun violence victims. Somehow I don’t think our nutty mayor has been paying attention to what each side in this debate are saying and doing.

Some guy in New Jersey goes to buy a BB gun and finds out it’s difficult, but yet fails to become educated.

Kathleen Kane says we need more leaders like Pat Toomey. I think we need fewer leaders like Kathleen Kane, myself.

Weapons of war do not belong on America’s streets!

The wannabe illegal Mayor in FloridaÂ seems to have lost his race.

Shotgun steaks. I hope they are using lead free primers. I wouldn’t eat that otherwise.

Gun-toting locavores! In Canada!

How Joe Manchin blew it.

Feinstein’s meltdown. She complains NRA money defeats her gun control bills, but doesn’t recognize that Bloomberg alone is keeping parity with the NRA on spending. Where would the gun control movement be without rich busybodies? She’s also attended the Joe Biden School of Self-Defense.

You’ve probably all seen or heard about NBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell blaming the NRA for the Boston bombers being on the loose.

On the Second Amendment and Presidential Anger.

Gun Control Debate: CLE

For those of you in the audience who need Continuing Legal Education credits, there is a gun control debate coming up Philadelphia:

The gun control debate is raging across the country. The horrific tragedy at Newtown has moved it to the front of our national consciousness. While the politics of the debate seem to drive the issue, there is still the law to consider, with interpretations of the 2nd Amendment affecting virtually every issue that arises in the effort to curb gun violence.

Â Hear from the Philadelphia Police Commissioner, representatives of the NRA and the Brady Center, and other advocates for and against gun control legislation.

The date is May 23rd, 2013 from 12 noon to 3:15PM. Looks like there will be a lot of simulcasts around the state, as well as online options. You don’t have to be a lawyer to register, but lay people might find the price a bit steep.

We Can’t Go Back to Sleep

CBS News: 2014 The Next Frontier in the Gun Control Battle:

As Democratic legislators search for a path forward, however, gun advocacy groups are zeroing in on the next phase of their campaign: Getting the gun bill “no” votes voted out of office in 2014.

“You wait until the next November,” warned New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in remarks on Thursday, of the lawmakers who voted against the Senate legislation. “How are they going to, a year from November when they’re running for election, answer, ‘Why didn’t you do something to stop that, senator? You had it in your power to do it, and you voted to keep the killing going.’ That can’t be good politics. It just can’t be.”

It is unfortunate, but we will need every warm body to act as a counterweight to Bloomberg’s deep pockets. They do have some things going against them. For one, most of the “no” votes on Manchin-Toomey come from states where Bloomberg’s ads will probably help the incumbent more than hurt them. Secondly, for the Democrat “no” votes, there are no good choices for Bloomberg. If you primary Mark Pryor with a gun control supporter, you’ll likely throw the election to the Republican, who will be just as pro-gun as Pryor. In many of these states, there really is no solution set that results in a gun control supporter winning a statewide election. The dynamic will be different in Congressional races, but Congress is not likely to have a vote, and the leadership isn’t vulnerable. Boehner’s district is R+14, and hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress since 1936. Cantor’s district in Virginia hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress since 1968, and Cook rates it R+11. This is not to say Bloomberg is not a factor, there will be plenty of politicians who will be tempted to run from us because of the money Bloomberg can pump into a race. Whether they do or not is going to depend on all of us.

No Warrant, No Entry

If this video represents how the Watertown “voluntary” searches were conducted at all, then I seriously wonder how the officers would have reacted to this doormat.

Now this may be the nutty libertarian in me, but being met at the door by SWAT teams with guns pointed at you and orders barked to keep your hands up no matter what isn’t what I call a “request” to search your home on a “voluntary” basis. Nor is it just checking the premises to have multiple officers patting down innocent people as they exit said house to screams for them to keep their hands up and to run down the street for further body searches.

I sincerely hope that some government official somewhere is so ashamed of this video that they end up releasing some kind of evidence that there was specific probable cause for this house to be searched in this manner. However, the pessimist in me doubts that will be the case. The video makes it appear as though the only cause for such a response was the delayed answer to non-stop door knocks.

If there was no reasonable suspicion that the suspect had specifically entered this property, I sincerely hope that those people find themselves a damn good lawyer quickly.

The Media Didn’t Learn a Thing after Boston

You’d think after so much public derision over their terrible job reporting on the Boston bombing situation, the media would think it wise to step back and consider how they report on breaking events and whether they are contributing to a sense of panic by printing and announcing every rumor they hear. I think it is safe to say that the Philly media definitely didn’t learn anything.

Here’s what I can tell you about a story that has apparently been unfolding since 9:00am today at the Independence Visitor Center in downtown Philly.

The local paper says that the Center was closed down because of a bomb threat in their headline. When you read the article, you find out that there was no actual threat just a perception that a guy who looked funny because he wore a camo coat on a cold day had some clothes and junk in his car may have possibly been a threat that involved a bomb.

A local tv station reports nothing about concerns about a bomb, but that SWAT teams were on the scene because the guy in the camo coat may have also had his face painted. There’s no mention of clothes or junk in his car, just that police shut down the main parking garage in the area in order to search every corner for anything suspicious before giving an all clear.

So the only clear facts that appear to be consistent are that a guy was wearing a coat on a cold day, the coat was apparently in a camouflage pattern, he had a car parked in a parking garage, and that the Philly police felt the best response was to shut down a major landmark and the parking garage because of this man wearing a coat on a cold day. Oh, and they also agree that he was hauled off in handcuffs, but officials are unwilling to say why he was detained.

At this point, even if there is a reasonable explanation for the police response, the reporting by at least one of these outlets–if not both–is irresponsible and clearly geared toward promoting fear in order to draw eyeballs. That’s why neither story is getting a link at the moment. Neither one deserves to be rewarded for reporting that appears to be, under the most generous descriptions, sloppy at best.

UPDATE: Another report actually relies on on-the-record statements from the police. Can you imagine the insanity behind such caution and restraint?

So far, the facts appear to be that a man was wearing camo (no mention of face paint) and that he had a car that was dirty. This alone was enough for police to determine that he should be taken into custody even though they admit that the K9 unit and bomb squad found absolutely nothing in his car but junk. Now this might be my crazy libertarian side coming out, but last time I checked, possession of shitty fashion sense and dirty cars isn’t actually a crime.

Is there no one else disturbed by the apparent extreme police state on display here? Are urban dwellers that content to give up their civil liberties?