The fact that they are even having to work to get to 60 on this means this deal was thoroughly unnecessary. Meanwhile, there are Republicans in the House who will help buy us more time, and hopefully improve the situation. Everyone would do well to remember that on any bill, today’s exceptions are tomorrows loopholes.
Month: April 2013
Monday News Dump
The late Toomey-Manchin compromise has meant that tab clearing has taken a back seat. Some of this stuff may be a bit dated, but I’ll try to weed that out as I go. But here’s all the news that’s fit (or maybe not fit) to link.
Happy tax day. Remember that today might be tax day, but you’re still working for Uncle Sam until Wednesday.
Bill Maher thinks the Second Amendment is bullshit. Because issues that revolve around the ability to defend your life and freedom are not serious issues, worthy of any serious debate.
Chicago v. Houston, the crime numbers.
New Yorkers better not have ten rounds in a magazine today. From now on it’s seven.
Us vs. Them, and Part II. And to think some of them wonder why politicians pay more attention to us than them.
Two of the big four TV networks are considering quitting broadcasting. Good riddance. I actually think TV has been terrible for politics in this country, and those frequencies can be put to more productive use anyway. Interesting that newspapers also seem to be headed down the crapper.
Looks like the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show has been saved, and those weasels at Reed Exhibitions are no longer involved.
The Truth About Gun Buybacks. Good thing the Toomey-Manchin Amendment would make buybacks illegal then, I guess. Why? Because it’s illegal to transfer a gun to a law enforcement officer without going through an FFL.
Joe Biden says that if you’re not a hunter, you’re not a real gun owner.
Obama’s approval on guns is underwater. 52% disapprove of his handling on guns. Maybe this will indeed cost the Democrats the Senate.
Why hunters are boycotting Colorado.
North Korean Army gun safety. I particularly love the dogs chewing the face of the South Korean defense minister they taped onto a dummy. Speaking of hilarious moments in bad gun handling, this takes the cake.
On training and rights. For all the hewing and hawing about training, I’ve never noticed that states that don’t require training have higher incidences of accidents attributable to poor training at any higher rate than states which require it.
Don’t kill a bear in self-defense in Massachusetts.
We have yet another false flag group, much like American Hunting and Shooting Association from a few years back.
The mass stabber in Houston would seem to have had some mental problems.
We continue to make advances on other fronts while the antis aren’t looking.
SCOTUS Denies Cert on Kachalsky
Story here. There can be a lot of tea leaf reading in this, but there are a multitude of reasons the Supreme Court can decline cert on a case. Nonetheless, let us hope the reason is not that there’s not agreement on the Court that carry is a right, and that it means something.
OFA Flooding the Senate Phone Lines
At least, OFA wants to flood the phone lines of all of the senators in order to push the gun control bill on Tuesday. The question is, will gun owners also being calling Senate offices tomorrow to make sure that Senate staff don’t just hear the anti-gun views?
Remember that if you cannot get through on their DC phone numbers, there’s always a district office (or seven, as is the case here) to call.
I suggest calling again because we need to show strength. OFA has been advertising that they will be the ones to overcome the grassroots power of the NRA, and we need to show them that gun owners will unite to fight gun control. Not to mention, we have no idea what damage could end up happening to any prospective pro-gun amendments with the promises made by Alan Gottlieb long before any votes happen.
UPDATE: OFA has decided to postpone their day of making phone calls. Interestingly, Toomey also selected tomorrow as a day to move offices so his phone lines would be down. Presumably that was already scheduled, but the timing of it sure would leave activists on either side of the issue wondering if it was intentional.
Alan Gottlieb Lobbies Grassroots to Support Toomey-Manchin Amendment
Sebastian made a comment while reading the Toomey language for his gun amendment that, while there are flaws, it appeared that it was written by someone with more gun knowledge than your average congressional staffer. Turns out that Alan Gottlieb is officially taking credit for having his staff help write the amendment based on this video.
I have some issues with this recording for a couple of reasons.
One, he misrepresents the ability to buy guns across state lines. At 3:03, Gottlieb says, “Another important one, you cannot now legally buy a handgun in a state that you don’t live in. If you’re not a resident of that state, you can’t buy a handgun. Under the so-called background check bill, you’ll be able to buy a handgun in all 50 states. As long as you buy from a licensed dealer, you can buy it from anywhere you want.” He adds more later, claiming that with “a gun license of any kind from any state, under the Toomey-Manchin proposal, there is no background check.”
Two, he promises that none of the 4473s on concealed carry licensees from FFLs will go to the government. Gottlieb says, “you have to fill out the 4473 form, it stays in the dealer’s file and never even gets called into the government.”
These two statements are just false. In fact, on the registry/4473 point, Dave Kopel’s initial review of the Toomey-Manchin amendment points out that the registry ban doesn’t include records from FFLs who close down and therefore must send their 4473s to the federal government for storage.
Beyond the actual policies in dispute, there’s a question of the strategy of this speech. Gottlieb asks dinner attendees to back this amendment specifically to advance their partisan agenda. I’m all for political reality and dealing with the fact that some people are willing to trade away our freedoms, but I truly do view defending the Bill of Rights as a non-partisan fight. I don’t want any party sitting comfortably thinking the Second Amendment is just something to take advantage of when it fits their agenda.
Gottlieb also tells the audience that these are all “secrets” to the bill – including a promise that a restoration of rights amendment is going to be presented and already has the votes – that he doesn’t want any gun control proponents to know about until after the amendment is official. So, then, help me understand why that would be announced in a room full of people while a video camera is going. (Clearly, this isn’t a hidden camera. It appears to be right in front of him, even if handheld.) That doesn’t seem very strategic to me. If CNN runs this video on repeat, those votes have likely disappeared.
My outrage moment, though, happened when Gottlieb told the crowd that every day, at every gun show, men who can’t speak English go in and purposefully load up with guns without showing ID and without ever undergoing background checks. Gee, thanks, Alan. As many gun shows as I have attended running a table, I have never witnessed anything like that happening. In fact, I have seen far more gun sellers refuse sales that they just don’t feel comfortable with than I have seen even a normal, ID-showing private sale.
Look, I get why some think that pro-gun folks should have been involved in the process of writing this amendment to try and keep innocent gun owners out of jail. That’s a reasonable argument to me. But, that’s very different from calling the Toomey-Manchin amendment a “Godsend” and misrepresenting what it does in order to lobby for grassroots support.
I would ask, if the Toomey-Manchin language goes through as presented, is the Second Amendment Foundation going to fund an Alan Gura defense for the first arrested gun owner who was just confused by the new rules about when processing through an FFL is required?
h/t to Misfires & Light Strikes for sharing this video and opening the discussion.
UPDATE: Interesting that the video is now starting to disappear from the internet. I found another copy of it. It’s the exact same video because the timing marks to my quotes line up.
Coburn Amendment: Breaking the Glass
We suspected from media rumors that there was going to be an, “In the event of gun control, break glass,” strategy from the stronger Republicans. Unfortunately, the Toomey-Manchin deal has given real legs to this issue once again, and given murmurs from the House, including my own Congressman (not surprised), I don’t feel particularly good about the House. Getting a “true conservative” like Toomey on board with the deal, unfortunately, makes a lot of critters think “Well, if Toomey is on board, it must be OK!”
And so Senator Tom Coburn floats an alternative that I think would be far preferable, if I’m going to be required to pick my poison:
Dr. Coburn’s amendment would require a NICS check or validation permit to be presented for non-FFL transfers, exempting family transfers, estate/will transfers, and all temporary transfers.
The requirement can be satisfied in one of four ways:
1) An FFL takes custody ofthe firearm in order to perform a background check on the transferee as mandated in Schumer original and Manchin-Toomey
2) Presentation oftemporary 30 day permit created by running a self-NICS check through a new consumer portal(details below)
3) Usage of a concealed carry permit or any other state issued permit that requires a NICS check to be conducted to obtain
4) Any other alternative that a state comes up with to satisfy the validation requirements for secondary and private market transfers. The amendment also includes a provision that places penalties on ATF agents that abuse records during audits, an IG report on the FBI’s 24 hour destruction rule compliance, a prohibition on records, a prohibition on centralizing records pertaining to gun ownership and a provision that allows states to assume primacy of enforcement of the background check law.
Consumer Portal
- FBI shall provide a consumer portal through its website, mobile application, or other applicable medium to allow a potential transferee to run a NICS check on his/herself
- A successful background check will provide potential transferee with a temporary 30 day permit that validates he/she is not prohibited from legally purchasing or possessing a firearm
- The temporary permit can be used by the transferee for any private transfers in compliance with state or federal law during the 30 day time window
- The permit will be made available to the transferee as an electronic printable document, via a mobile application or other appropriate means
- The 30 day permit will provide the name, date of expiration of permit, and a unique pin number that can be used to verify activation by transferor
- The consumer portal will be designed with privacy protections so that only a prospective transferee can run his/her own NICS check
- The documentation provided by consumer portal will utilize necessary fraud protections
- A valid 30 day permit provided by the consumer portal that is verified with a valid governmentissued photo identification would suit the law’s requirements
- Information provided by prospective transferee to conduct background check through the consumer portal must be destroyed within 24-hours as occurs for FFL conducted background checks
The new law will not go into effect until the consumer portal is up and running, and the law will be nullified if the consumer portal is permanently shut down or defunded.
Screw going through an FFL being an alternative though. The alternative should be that FFLs can issue a validation to a prospective buyer, to facilitate a private sale for someone who doesn’t want to use the portal. Also, this all has to be with the FBI. ATF can’t have anything to do with this portal. In fact, I’d be happier with an independent agency, separate from the DOJ, running NICS.
The concern here is that the requirement that records not be kept by the FBI from the check are worth about as much as Cypriot deposit insurance. There needs to be independent, and regular auditing. While in this scheme, the seller presumably would keep the buyer’s certificate, there can’t be any requirement to do so. The enforcement mechanism for this is that if you sell to someone prohibited, obviously you didn’t run the check, and also the fact that most gun owners, to the utter shock of anti-gun folks everywhere, really don’t want to sell guns to criminals. Also, do we still get some things in return for the Coburn proposal? That would be a necessary component.
Again folks, what our options are depends on how people are communicating with lawmakers. If everyone who was lining up at gun shows at the start of all this were calling lawmakers, we would not be here. We worked a gun show to get people to contact, and the number of people who wouldn’t, because they just didn’t think it mattered, was very discouraging. Don’t be those people. Also, just be emphatic that you expect them to vote against all gun control measures, and that yes, background checks are gun control, no matter what Senator Toomey says. You wouldn’t accept background checks for Internet access (to make sure you’re not, say, a child porn convict). Firearms rights should not be any different.
Fast Cars & Freedom*
I love markets. Markets generally tell us what people really want and how much they value something. For example, gun rights and fast cars.
For those of you who aren’t NASCAR fans, NRA has sponsored a race tonight, the NRA 500. As a politician opposed to freedom and fun, Chris Murphy (D-CT) stepped in and tried to use the pressure of his office to have NASCAR turn on NRA’s long planned sponsorship. That didn’t work, so Murphy turned on Fox to try and get them to yank it from the air. (Though NASCAR has pledged to review their sponsorship agreements after the race.)
Fox didn’t pull it, but fans are noticing that Fox announcers are going out of their way to avoid saying the name of the race tonight except where they are contractually obligated to do so. (I would embed the tweet on that topic here, but Cameron Gray of NRA News, who reported on the contract requirements, blocks us for some reason, so I cannot get the embed code.) I just can’t fathom how a network that really needs to attract viewers willing to spend money on sponsors and advertisers decides that it is in their best interest to piss off those people ready to spend money.
How do I know they are ready to spend money? Easy, the President of the Texas Motor Speedway tells us that the combined NRA & NASCAR fanbase is spending big, big bucks:
Just learned #NRA500 merchandise sold out 2 1/2 hours before race. Best sales ever. @txmotorspeedway #nascar
— Eddie Gossage (@eddiegossage) April 14, 2013
According to a statement by Gossage covered by ESPN earlier, objections to the NRA sponsorship are few and far between. Interestingly, they actually looked up those who complained and found that the vast majority of those few are not even customers.
“We’ve had fewer than a dozen responses,” Gossage said. “Of those, only two had purchased tickets [to other TMS events]. There is no controversy or big uproar or even a tiny uproar.”
But Fox is hardly the only shortsighted business involved in tonight’s race. The same ESPN article notes that the PR directors for two drivers ordered them not to grant any interviews in the media room so that they won’t have to be pictured with the letters NRA behind them. No doubt those same PR pros have probably squashed any efforts by the driver or their teams to use the #NRA500 hashtag tonight on Twitter – you know, the hashtag that’s trending nationwide right now. We wouldn’t want those drivers to turn up for any racing fans searching that hashtag, now would we?
If I was a driver, regardless on my views of guns, I would look at the merchandise sales and the social media opportunities lost, then I would promptly fire my PR person for not knowing a damn thing about my customer base. Numbers don’t lie, but PR directors apparently do when motivated by politics instead of the best business interests of their clients.
If Gossage is interested, this former Texas Motor Speedway customer appreciates the class the Speedway has shown in the face of a hostile media and an lawmaker who forgets we’re a free society. Granted, the last event I attended was a Rolling Stones concert in high school. But I am a proven customer nonetheless!
*Title shamelessly stolen from ExUrban Kevin
How They Plan to Pass Gun Control
See here, via Instapundit. Looks like how I’d expect this to go down. By the time they actually hold a vote, everything you see is pretty much pre-arranged kabuki theater. Call your Senators.
Echoes of The Toomey-Manchin Amendment
Every time we keep having back and forth about what the bill does or doesn’t do, I keep thinking of this:
When life starts imitating Monty Python, I think it’s safe to say the Republic is in trouble.
Don’t Support This CommandTheChief.org Nonsense
I just got an e-mail from these folks. They claim for three dollars they’ll send a letter to the White House for you. My charitable opinion is these folks are dishonestly trying to cash in on people’s concerns about gun control. My less charitable opinion is that this is a total scam. It would not surprise me if they are not even based in the US, given that the e-mail came from a gmail account. I would not have anything to do with them, and if you see people promoting this, please help spread the word. I normally would ignore stuff like this, but with people on edge, it’s opens the community up to being taken advantage of.