I’ve seen stories like this all around the state. It’s going to be interesting when the State Police release the PICS numbers, which shows how many checks were run on people who apply for LTCs in a given year. The estimate on the number of LTCs issues was around 600,000, statewide. Will it hit 700,000? 800,000? It would be very good for that to be the case, because few politicians want to risk pissing off 800,000 voters in a state of 12 million people.
Month: June 2013
New Jersey .50 Cal Ban Proceeding
According to ANJRPC:
A3659Â – the fifty caliber ban – was added to the full Assembly agenda for Monday, June 24. This is the final version of this legislation, which has been changing from week to week over the past several months. It bans firearms that shoot centerfire cartridges of any caliber that attain a muzzle energy of 12,000 ft-lbs. or greater. Though limited grandfathering has been added in response to gun owner concerns, the firearms must be registered, cannot be passed down to heirs, and owners will be civilly liable for damages if the firearm is used in a crime. Additionally, the bill has been amended specifically to prevent anyone with a pending order for these firearms from taking possession of them.
I was worried, somewhere, legislators were going to figure out the idea of restricting firearms by muzzle energy rather than caliber. This would exempt all the large bore safari cartridges I can think of, in addition to preserving shotguns and muzzleloaders. The .408 Cheytac would still be legal, as would the .338 Lapua Magnum and .416 Barrett. Of course, this could be problematic if your hobby is creating wildcat rounds. As best I can tell, this law will have just about the same effect if they just banned the .50BMG by name. There are plenty of alternatives that have similar properties, but just not quite as much muzzle energy.
It’s amazing to me that politicians are just now getting so concerned about a cartridge that John Browning designed 100 years ago, and, to the best of my knowledge, has never been used to commit a crime anywhere in the United States.
UPDATE: Originally I missed the bit about the proposal requiring a centerfire cartridge. This means any muzzleloading firearm is not covered. I removed that bit.
Flashlight Carry
I’ve carried some form of flashlight for quite some time now, because it’s a good idea to carry one if you carry a firearm, and because it’s just a damn handy thing to have on you. I probably go to my flashlight more often than I go to my multi-tool. I carry a Fenix LD10. I like the Fenix a lot, but I have one pet peeve with it — it’s too easy to accidentally turn on when carrying with the pocket clip. Often times, I don’t notice until the flashlight gets hot, and by then, it’s burned through a good deal of battery.
Does anyone who carries a flashlight regular have a favorite? One good thing about the Fenix is that it takes a single AA battery, so if I drain one using the flashlight as a pocket warmer I’m not out much. It’s also small enough to make carrying on a pocket clip practical. But I’d love to have a flashlight that was a little harder to accidentally switch on.
More on the Zimmerman Jury
As the trial kicks into gear this week, Legal Insurrection has a very detailed look at the jurors and how they answered questions during the jury selection process.
I have to say that if I didn’t think this was a case of prosecution via mob justice instead of hard evidence of a crime, I would almost feel sorry for the prosecutor. Almost all of the jurors are noted for their understanding of the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Most of the jurors are pretty hostile to the media and admit that they don’t trust them or what they hear in the news. Several have experience with firearms, including one woman who used to have a concealed carry permit. If you really read the whole post, it’s not the gun experience that makes me think Zimmerman has a chance to seriously make his case to this jury. The comments about understanding beyond a reasonable doubt and standing up to people causing harm to innocents that make me think the State is going to have an uphill battle.
And that’s exactly how it should be. The burden is on the government to prove a crime was committed and that the case was not lawful self-defense.
By the way, I find it amusing that two of the white women the State wanted kicked off are women who recalled that Zimmerman claims to have been injured in the struggle, and they also don’t believe that circumstantial evidence is grounds to convict. Yeah, damn those women who might be open to considering both sides and believe that the State should have to provide evidence beyond a reasonable doubt! Those pesky citizens make the life of a prosecutor so hard…
Ms. Magazine Wimps Out of Gun Debate
We’ve all been anxiously awaiting Part Two of Heidi Yewman’s one month of trying to carry a gun. Apparently because the staff at “Ms.” were overwhelmed with pro-gun commentary, and they are shocked (shocked!) to discover that some people on the Internet might be bozos. So they are shit-canning the rest of the story.
What was Kort’s solution to this dilemma? Incredibly, it was to kill the rest of Yewman’s series. “I don’t think I should post the next two installments of this—they’ll only fire up the troops again, and we’re just not equipped to handle this on our blog,†Kort wrote.
According to Ms. Kort, who is an Editor editor at “Ms.”, the rest of the series will appear on the Huffington Post. In my career of dealing with presenting and arguing controversial viewpoints on the Internet, I can say it sometimes will challenge your faith in humanity. I can hardly blame “Ms.” for censoring posts featuring the home address of the author, nor do I blame them for censoring truly nasty comments. But I can promise you those are a small minority of the comments that have been censored.
This is straight from the anti-gun playbook: censor dissenting viewpoints and shut down debate, then claim to be doing it because people who have a pro-Second Amendment viewpoint are nasty brutes who just want to bully and intimidate everyone. That has not been my, or anyone else’s experience anywhere else on the Internet where dialog is not moderated and people are relatively free to have open discussion. Yes, some people on the Internet are poster children for the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory. This is not news to anyone, and while I support “Ms.” magazine’s editorial discretion, I think bowing out of this is cowardly, and shows they are not committed to having any kind of real discussion on a serious topic.
Sunday News Links
Well, if anything, we can say that Bloomberg’s bus tour is definitely getting media attention, and it’s also attracting counter protestors, which is a good thing (when they aren’t being boneheads and getting arrested).
The media story out of Raleigh, where the MAIGic Bus tour stopped yesterday, is one of a two sided showing. This is from at least two local stations here and here. I wonder if we’re not helping MAIG’s media game by helping attract the media.
Apparently Connecticut citizens like the new gun laws. What wasn’t polled? How many of the people being polled even had an idea what the new gun law was.
Gabriel Gomez is running for Kerry’s Senate seat in Massachusetts openly opposing assault weapons bans and magazine restrictions, while endorsing Manchin-Toomey. It’s a very close race, which will be decided Tuesday. Apparently the Boston Globe is unhappy with this. He’s not thinking of the children.
The PA Supreme Court is considering a preemption challenge by the City of Erie. Hopefully we’ll get another ruling strengthening preemption.
Apparently protesters (well, a few anyway) are nutty enough to protest a shooting range. But they’ll go home and leave us alone if they just get background checks.
Biden says he has 5 senators that want to change their vote on gun control. I’d take that with a grain of salt, but they aren’t going to let this issue die.
The state GOP boss is pressuring the Mayor of Dover, New Hampshire to quit MAIG. I wish our GOP bosses here would make an issue of MAIG membership.
The first Second Amendment documentary to make the screens of ordinary movie theaters.
Operation Colorado Freedom Phase II.
Dave Hardy has some things to say about jury selection in the Zimmerman case.
Senator Tester and Murphy are sponsoring a Constitutional Amendment that would silence the collective voice of gun owners by gutting the First Amendment.
Montgomery County firearms attorney Jonathan Goldstein debates former Governor Ed Rendell on the Dom Giordano show. It’s worth a listen. When confronted, The Governor ends up saying he doesn’t have bodyguards anymore. Could have fooled me.
Bad Exception Proposed for SAFE Act
I oppose carving out an exemption for retired NY cops from the SAFE act. If the guns and >7 rd magazines are only useful for hunting humans, the police shouldn’t have them either, and there can be no rationale at all for them having them off duty. It also looks like, according to this source, the GOP may have caved to Cuomo on guns in exchange for Cuomo caving on redistricting. So under the bus gun rights go:
Republicans number just 30 in the 63-seat Senate, yet they reasserted the state’s last bastion of GOP and conservative influence.
This year, Republicans were no longer under Cuomo’s thumb after he accepted the GOP’s redistricting plan, which will protect Republican power in the Senate for the next 10 years.
Senate Republicans struck a deal to share the majority with four breakaway Democrats in the Independent Democratic Conference in an unheard-of bipartisan agreement. And it worked.
Republicans allowed the IDC to raise the minimum wage and let Cuomo’s gun control bill pass, giving the IDC under Democrat Jeff Klein another major win.
Emphasis mine. If there was a deal to trade gun control for the GOP redistricting plan that preserved the GOP majority, you could bowl me over with a feather. When it comes to principles versus staying in power, power will win every time.
Illinois Mayor Joins Ranks of More Law Abiding
The Mayor of Rockford, Illinois says he’s leaving MAIG, and says he plans to get a concealed carry permit whenever the state passes its new law. The Mayor said he joined because of the name, but once it became apparent they were about a lot more than just “illegal guns,” he decided the group wasn’t for him. I wonder how many other mayors out there are just as deluded? If your Mayor is a MAIG member, go have a talk with them. Let them know what kind of things Bloomberg is signing their names on to.
Welcome to the Party
A few readers have sent stories about how MAIG’s servers, etc, were being run by the City of New York. I thought this was pretty much common knowledge to anyone who has been following Bloomberg’s organization for a while, so I didn’t think it was really news, but it’s gotten picked up by the media, and they are all running with it. Welcome to the Party. Bloggers figured this out years ago.
Back in 2011, the New York Post ran a story on how Bloomy yanked 100 large out of the NYPD budget to run stings on gun shows, and then there was the revelation about a year ago that New York City wasn’t the only city who’s tax dollars were going to fund gun control. So it was largely known, at least among gun bloggers, that MAIG was partially funded by New York City taxpayers. Who knew it was big news?
A Short Change of Topic
I’ve been in the office all day, part in meetings, and part at our new warehouse double checking some floor plans I’ve come up with to make sure everything fits in real life like it does on the computer. So since I have no idea what’s going on in the gun world today, I’ll talk about another topic near and dear to my heart: beer.
I’ve been thinking about getting back into brewing beer. I’ve tried the wine thing a few times now, and the time between effort and reward is too long. On the bright side, if you don’t have time for the wine, the wine has time. Unlike beer, if you properly sulfite your wine, it’ll get nothing but better with age. Beer will get better too, but only to a point, and then you better do something with it (drinking it is usually my solution).
As I’m sitting here in the Wegman’s Cafe waiting for rush hour to die down, I’m drinking a Samuel Smith’s India Pale Ale. The IPA, as a style, is one of my favorite ales to brew, and also is one of my favorite ales to drink. While I like a good American IPA, I really like English IPAs, so every time I have an English IPA, like Sammy Smith’s, I get the itch to brew my own. Most of the IPAs you drink in the US are going to be in the American style. What’s the difference? American IPAs are usually run pretty heavy on Cascade hops. The total bouquet may contain a lot more than Cascade, but it’s usually the prominent hop in most American made IPAs. English IPAs are also more heavily hopped than other styles — that’s part of surviving the trip to India, after all — but they generally use more subdued hop varieties. As a result, English IPAs don’t tend to punch you in the face with hops quite as much, and still retain quite a lot of malty body. I like that.
My tap water is medium-hard, so it tends to make really good IPAs and other medium-to-high gravity ales. I’ve had a tougher time with mash efficiency trying to do light bodied pale ales. When I’ve made my IPAs, I’ve always tried to hop them the English way so the maltiness of the ale comes through for a better balance. What’s your favorite beer?