November 2013 – Page 5 – Shall Not Be Questioned

The Future of News

Boy, if you think the media is anti-gun now, it’s probably time to just turn it all off and cut off the subscriptions.

This article on the gun control debate in a New York City high school is recognized as one of the “best” pieces of student journalism in the entire region.

The most effort the team of three students made to get a remotely opposing opinion was to talk to a social studies teacher who acknowledged that there’s a legal right to own a handgun, only in the home for self-defense there. He makes it very clear that no other guns and purposes should be allowed, “just a pistol to defend the home.”

I get that these are just high school kids, but it is a little disturbing that they don’t even make an effort to try and present an alternative position or outline why someone might not agree with the vast majority of the proposals that other students and public school employees suggest. The fact that this lack of any real effort to present even an argument from the opposition is not only printed in a student paper, but actually awarded a prize for high school reporting is disturbing to me. It’s like the major mainstream media outlets are admitting that it’s not even worth it to pretend they aren’t just partisan hacks.

Jesse James Gun Going to Auction

Rumor has it that I’m related to Jesse James. As much as Sebastian & I have been able to learn about our families through genealogy, I can’t confirm or debunk this at this point. Regardless, it does mean that I spent quite a bit of time as a child checking out Jesse James-related sites when visiting Western Missouri during family gatherings.*

Anyway, the Colt .45 owned by my possible distant cousin is apparently going up for auction soon. This account claims that they expect it to go for more than $1.6 million.

While I mentioned this to Sebastian, he wondered if the gun used to shoot Jesse James was actually worth more money. A quick search indicates that while the price of that gun has been on the rise over the last 20 years, it’s not nearly as valuable. It was apparently predicted to go for about $150,000 when auctioned in 1993 and then again in 20033 for $350,000.

*I will not be surprised if I can eventually debunk this family myth. On the other hand, the James family that appears in my tree may have come from Missouri around the right time.

Running Against SAFE in NY …

… it’s winning some politicians re-election. This is somewhat heartening because Erie County contains Buffalo, which is a reasonably sized city. But upstate has always been relatively anti-gun control. It’s the fact that they are outvoted by downstate that keeps New York anti-gun. From both an economical and political point of view, it would actually make sense to partition New York State into two states, New York, and Upper New York. It’s more than just guns. The economic policies and taxes imposed by downstate have ruined the upstate economy. It’s depopulating faster than Western Pennsylvania, because of the lack of opportunity. It doesn’t hurt the downstate people as much because the financial industry throws off enough money to afford the tax burdens and regulations.

Tiring of Piers Morgan

It turns out that people who aren’t fans of guns are even getting tired of Piers Morgan’s gun control tirades. The New Republic does an entire piece on what a fake he is on this issue and how he’s trying to re-write his history when he really didn’t care about such topics. Piling on, the reporter also adds a compilation of the five most obnoxious moments on the Piers Morgan show of the last year.

I think his ratings show that others in the media aren’t the only ones tiring of his antics. I’m amazed that CNN has allowed him to keep dragging their brand down as long as they have.

Posturing for 2014

Democratic Senate leaders are doing their level best at making the people lobbying for Brady feel better about the current state of things, by telling them that the issue isn’t dead. It’s just a matter of getting the House to pass it first.

“I believe if the bill were taken up in the House that it would pass. And when it passes the House, some senators â€¦ would no longer have the excuse, ‘It’s no use my risking my political career because it’s not going anyplace in the House,'” Pelosi said. “Let’s turn that around, pass it in the House and just put the pressure on to take up the bill. Why not?”

This is just posturing for the base ahead of the 2014 election. Holding out the possibility that a fresh tragedy can always alter our position relative to our opponents, I doubt there is going to be much enthusiasm to take up the issue again in the Senate, and the House isn’t likely to bother with it, but it does have an uncomfortable number of co-sponsors.

The Thompson-King bill has 185 co-sponsors, including three Republicans, but Pelosi said there are “at least 30 more” House lawmakers who would support the measure if it came up for a vote.

BTW, the two Republicans who signed onto Thompson-King, the House version of the Manchin-Toomey senate bill, are my Rep, Mike Fitzpatrick, and PA-7’s rep Pat Meehan. Both had NRA endorsements. We’ll see whether or not they keep them.

The More They Say It, The More it’s True

The LA Times is trying to shame Governor Brown for vetoing a bill that would have banned all semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine. Let that sink in real good. The anti-gun media and activists (which is to repeat myself) believe it’s just fine to ban just about all semi-automatic rifles. And are willing to shame politicians who don’t agree. But remember, they are just after common-sense gun laws.

Because of Brown’s veto, these especially lethal firearms are still available for purchase in California. And they’ll continue to be used by wackos in horrific shootings.

Because surely, there has never been a deadly shooting that didn’t involve semi-automatic firearms. And the media will still refuse to accept their role in making these weapons “the weapons of choice for mass killers.” The fact is that the media constantly parroting this nonsense makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy. But perhaps that helps, rather than hinders, the cause for which they agitate for.

Connecticut Law Review: Firearms Issue

I’ve had this in my tabs for a while now, meaning to get around to highlighting some of the article int his issue. Unfortunately, I’ve been a bit too busy to get around to it, but there is some excellent stuff in here. I’ve read drafts of Nick Johnson’s “Firearms Policy and the Black Community: An Assessment of the Modern Orthodoxy,” and would highly recommend it. I plan to get around to highlighting these articles eventually, but I wanted to offer an opportunity to anyone who might want to get a head start on me. I probably won’t have a whole lot of time until the holidays.

A War Against Self-Defense by the Left?

I’m not sure that this is really any kind of lefty conspiracy, so much as a lesson that grieving loved ones really should not form the basis of a public policy discussion. The topic of the article is the recent spate of stories involving self-defense shootings, where the families demand the person defending themselves be prosecuted for doing so.

This is a predictable outcome of the Zimmerman case. Grieving families will seldom want to accept that their loved one might have been engaging in predatory criminal activity which has a high likelihood of placing one on the receiving end of a justifiable homicide. The Zimmerman case playbook offers an easy means to avoid having to deal with the truth of the situation. What’s concerning is that the media chooses to cover it in a sympathetic light, which will only lead to more of it.

Tuesday News Dump

Sorry for the lack of posting today, but things are going to be exceptionally busy for me into next year, so there will be days when things just don’t get off the ground blog wise. We’ve been finding it challenging to find a contractor to build our rather odd data center who doesn’t want to charge an arm and a leg. Because I’m cheap, I’m doing the plans instead of hiring out for it. The Township wants electrical plans. I don’t know much about making electrical plans, and after reading quite a bit about it, I still don’t know much about it, but I’m giving it a go anyway. Anyway, here is the news:

Looking for gun safe software for Android? Check out Seven Bit Software’s Gun Safe.

The Coalition to ~~Stop Gun Violence~~ Prevent Gun Ownership is now leaning on Visa to stop doing business with NRA. Visa offers and NRA credit card. Visa might get a whole dozen people really pissed off at them if they just ignore them!

A disarmed populace has nothing at all to fear from its government. No, nothing at all.

What a great time for some rifle OC, don’t you agree? I’m sure many people were educated.

The law on machine guns works the same in Pennsylvania as it does in Tennessee. Machine guns are illegal in Pennsylvania, except that it’s a defense to have complied with the provisions of the National Firearms Act. Affirmative defenses don’t necessarily keep you out of jail.

Rampage killings and the media.

This story talks about how Mom’s Demand Action is being dishonest, but more like MDAÂ played the rifle OC people for suckers. When anti-gun folks ask you to pose all scary with your rifles, don’t be a fool. It greatly worries me when I see “our side” being outsmarted by a group I generally think plays the game pretty poorly most of the time.

Prince Law Offices has more information about the 3D printed gun.

The 11 nations of America. I think that’s oversimplified, but interesting, nonetheless.

Did Dick Metcalfe deserve to be fired? I still maintain it’s not what he said, but that how he said it demonstrated a lot of ignorance, and it just so happened to be it’s the same ignorance perpetrated by our opponents in the gun control movement. Yes, the Second Amendment will have limits, like any other right. But Dick played into the notion that it is somehow quaint or different from other rights. That’s exactly what the Brady Center argues.

Philly Looking to Ban 3D Printing of Guns

Perhaps they heard the news that a 3D printed gun was made out of metal, using Selective Laser Sintering. This isÂ an expensive process, outside the where the technology is as far as the hobbyist is concerned, but technology always gets cheaper. Though, Perhaps Philadelphia City Councilmen just sit around thinking of ways to screw the Second Amendment, when they aren’t busy allowing the city to continue to circle the bowl. Regardless of the motivation, Philadelphia City Council is looking to outlaw the 3D printing of guns.

“The prohibition that city ordinances can’t overcome as it relates to state legislation is primarily ownership, transfer of a firearm. This goes to manufacturing,” he said. “We’ve spoken with the Law Department. We believe that if there is a challenge in the court system, it will be something we’ll be able to defeat.”

This is true, but there’s another element of the UFA they are ignoring:

No political subdivision may bring or maintainÂ an action at law or in equity against any firearms or ammunition manufacturer, trade association or dealer for damages, abatement, injunctive relief or any other relief or remedy resulting from or relating to either the lawful design or manufacture of firearms or ammunition or the lawful marketing or sale of firearms or ammunition to the public.

It could be argued that this only means that subdivisions can’t sue manufacturers, but I would argue this is further evidence the state intended to reserve this body of law for the state legislature. Another question is whether a prosecution would be considered an “action at law.”

Regardless, I would not expect this ordinance to necessarily to go down. As we’ve seen, Pennsylvania courts will do what they can to screw gun owners. We’ve seen it with the law against firearms registries that the courts have ruled does not actually prevent the state from running a registry, as long as they call it a record of sale. We’ve seen the courts ignore plain meaning when it comes to reciprocal licenses. So I don’t exactly have great faith the courts will do the right thing here.