2013 – Page 14 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Bloomberg Successfully Buys the Virginia Governorship

But just barely, it’s looking like. A few weeks ago it looked like Cuccinelli was going to go down hard, probably by double digits. I don’t honestly think Bloomberg did McAuliffe any favors, since it was during his big gun control push that he started losing ground. But a win is a win, and hopefully the GOP does well enough in the down ticket races that we won’t have much to fear from McAuliffe. We shall see. But I think this is another indication that strong social conservatives aren’t viable candidates in swing states.

UPDATE: More on Bloomberg not helping.

Another “I’m a Gun Owner But…” Article

This time in “Runner’s World” of all places. I’m not sure why Runner’s World needs to stake out a position on gun control, but it does.

On Friday, I was booked to fly from Los Angeles to Eugene, Oregon. That morning, a gunman walked into LAX with a semiautomatic assault rifle and opened fire, killing a TSA officer and wounding several other people. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be booked on an afternoon flight.

So he walked into a place where guns are banned, being from a state that banned the gun he was carrying, being in a state that banned the gun he was carrying, and what we clearly need are some more laws?

I propose:Â Ban assault rifles and handguns for everyone except police and military personnel.Â These weapons are made to kill humans and should be strictly limited.Â At the same time, allow responsible citizens to own rifles and shotguns.

If you think they are going to let you keep your rifles and shotguns for deer hunting once the rest of us are out of the fight, you have no idea what you’re up against, and I can’t help you achieve reality. The truth is those kinds of firearms work just fine for mass killing. Just look at the guy who shot up the Navy Yard in DC.

And I’d note I went through a similar thing in the Houston airport right after we arrived, and it didn’t scare me enough to advocate taking everyone else’s freedoms away, because I don’t believe in punishing the sane for the acts of the insane.

This guy is taking a beating on the Facebook page, and he deserves to.

What’s at Stake in Virginia

The Democrats are already spinning that this a great victory for gun control, to be able to elect someone like Terry McAuliffe in Virginia. I will make no bones that I absolutely can’t stand Ken Cuccinelli’s positions on a range of social issues, but gun rights are sinking along with the Republican brand, and we can’t honestly afford too many losses before this whole game will be up. We can make a statement in other races. Bloomberg is spending dollars by the millions to buy elections in swing states. Take this article from the New York Times.

â€œI donâ€™t think youâ€™ve seen any Democratic candidate run in Virginia as rabidly anti-gun as McAuliffe has in the last two weeks,â€ said David Adams, legislative director for the Virginia Shooting Sports Association, the state affiliate of the NRA.

Cuccinelli reminds me a lot of Santorum, only without having a Bob Casey at least talking a good A rating as was the case in our 2006 Senatorial race. I would reluctantly vote for Cuccinelli were I in Virginia. Especially given that it’s coming out that a big Obama Donor is bankrolling the Libertarian ticket, and that the Libertarian candidate isn’t very err… libertarian.

So to Virginia gun owners, close your eyes and think of England. I’d be sure to get out and vote for Cuccinelli. You’ll only have to deal with him for four years.

Tuesday: The News Links

It’s Tuesday, and time to clear the tabs. The news cycle is all about the collapse of Obamacare, and not guns. I guess we got our time in the sun pooping on the Obama Administration for a while, and now it’s other issue’s turn.

I’ll lead off with a non-gun story, just because it’s cool. Apparently someone shattered the cannonball run speed record, and cracked the 30 hour mark doing it.

Virginia Tech is not liable for failing to warn students about the shooter. The government won’t let you protect yourself if you’re a college student, but they’ll absolve themselves of any responsibility if they fail to protect you.

The last lead smelter in the US shuts down. I guess we’ll be importing all our lead from now on, or more accurately recycling most, and importing some. But no more lead manufactured from ore in the US.

Simple ideas for Simple Minds.

How NRA became ATF’s biggest enemy. But the fact that we can have some input into ATF’s operations, director and budget is one reason you don’t see a huge move to abolish the agency. Gun owners wouldn’t get that kind of input into the FBI, and the FBI will very competently violate your rights.

Facebook is become some lame thing old people use.

Government is magic. Highly recommended, though off topic.

Looks like Newtown might just want to be left in peace as the anniversary approaches, but the gun control groups and Obama Administration aren’t going to let that happen.

John Lott also takes down the new study showing owning a gun makes you a racist.

Ted Cruz speaks about Stand Your Ground.

More zero tolerance nonsense.

Landowner liability act finally passes the PA Senate.

Serving the people.

The media is still getting it wrong about assault weapons.

This is how we spell e-n-t-r-a-p-m-e-n-t

Billboards advertising jury nullification. More of this please.

Piracy has dropped significantly since ships are being armed. Who would have guessed?

Why people own guns. If someone asked me that, I’d have to ask “Well, which gun are you talking about?”

Can You Shoot .22LR in This Rifle?

[Guest bleg from sometimes guest blogger Jason. I didn’t know the answer to this so I asked him to post the question to all of you. – Sebastian]

I have a Winchester model 1902 rifle that’s been in the family since at least 1920, when my grandfather carved his name and the year into the stock.

The barrel is marked “22 SHORT LONG OR EXTRA LONG.” Does anyone know if its safe to use .22 Long Rifle or high velocity .22 Long Rifle in this gun? A .22LR round seems to chamber ok, but I can’t find any decent information on whether or not the higher pressures or different bullet geometry will cause problems if fired.

Update: some more pictures:

Continue reading “Can You Shoot .22LR in This Rifle?”

ATF: “Give us Funding!”

I’m wondering who floated this piece to the San Francisco Chronicle. It essentially says the reason that Fast and Furious happened was because the agency isn’t well funded enough. It takes an increase in federal funding to realize that deliberately allowing firearms to be trafficked to drug cartels is wrong? Really? The alternate message is that since the NRA apparently controls ATF’s funding, it’s really NRA’s fault that ATF can’t do its job.

The NRA’s efforts to control the ATF have ended up costing the bureau millions. An NRA-supported congressional appropriations provision prevents the agency from building a national gun registry. As a result, the 375 contract employees at itsÂ National Tracing CenterÂ in Martinsburg, W.Va., work largely without computers, relying on phone calls and scanned or microfilmed paper records to connect crime gun serial numbers to originalÂ purchasers.

Because if you put them into a computer, you have a searchable, national registry of what guns people own, that would actually have very little little missing information, given the number of dealers that go out of business. If the ATF and government are so concerned about what the West Virginia facility is costing, it’s always an option to shut the doors and destroy all the records. I’d feel a lot better if we weren’t always one hostile appropriations bill away from having a national gun registry, wouldn’t you?

Sending a Message to the Judiciary

Unlike many states, Pennsylvania gun owners actually have a method to send a direct message to the judicial branch about their views on how judges might be doing at either upholding or uprooting our rights to keep and bear arms.

Pennsylvania does a range of judicial elections – outright partisan competitive elections at some levels and during some years, and then retention elections (simple, is this person doing a good enough job to remain on the bench vote) for some levels of the court. There are perks and drawbacks to such a system, but it is our system. That means we gun owners should participate.

Tomorrow is Election Day, and the only offices on the ballot are local, county, and judicial. It means that turnout will be ridiculously low. Gun owners need to be concerned since we just had an elected judge make a completely new interpretation of our concealed carry laws that made any Pennsylvania resident carrying on an out-of-state license a criminal.

In fact, two Supreme Court justices are up for a retention vote tomorrow. One of them, Chief Justice Ron Castille, wrote the opinion that has opened the door to redefine Pennsylvaniaâ€™s self-defense standard from one which requires the state to disprove a claim of self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt, to one where the defendant has to prove self-defense by a preponderance of the evidence. This would essentially shift the burden from the state to the defendant. If gun owners think this is a bad idea, then vote against retention.

Gun owners aren’t the only interest group that should be looking more to the courts as voters. A Tea Party group is also encouraging voters to vote against retention of both justices up tomorrow. Whatever you think about their views on whatever it is that’s irking them is irrelevant, what it presents is an opportunity to see that Castille is especially weak.

This isn’t the only time in recent months that gun owners have needed to wake up to judicial elections. In Erie, there’s a low level judge who just blatantly ignored the state’s preemption law. This is a situation that can easily be solved at the ballot box, and the message will spread to other judges.

Unfortunately, of all the bad rulings issued for gun owners lately, Chief Justice Castille is the only one facing an immediate election. However, he can be sent home. We should take the opportunity to help him enjoy his retirement a little earlier than he expected. (He actually faces mandatory retirement next year, so it’s pretty pointless to keep him on the court. Unfortunately, he is fighting that mandatory retirement. Though he can’t fight a voter-mandated retirement.)

Defining Guns Down

Bob Owens noticed that Shannon Watts, the head of Moms Demand Action, put out a new definition for the guns the group wants to ban: “An assault weapon enables humans to shoot 10 rounds in one minute.”

Bob goes through and provides video examples of all types of guns that can shoot 10 rounds in one minute or less.

That means guns that Moms Demand Action want to see banned include lever actions, bolt actions, and even single-shot shotguns. He provides plenty of evidence that shows all can load and fire 10 rounds or more in less than a minute.

A Look Back

I came across this page from an 1897 Sears Catalog the other day, and I just wanted to share it as a novelty of a time where you could actually order by mail, and were even encouraged to bulk buy with neighbors.

I think my favorite listing is the one with the line, “Nothing like it ever retailed for less than $5.00.” I also find it amusing how much of a drastic price increase it was (41%!) to get the pearl handle instead of rubber.

Know Your Rights, Even When the ACLU May Not

Yesterday, a story popped up on Photography is Not a Crime (another great blog highlighting rights of the law-abiding that are frequently trampled) about a low level ACLU representative getting angry at a photographer for taking photos on a public Massachusetts street that she just happened to be working on that day.

The girl decked out in her ACLU gear didn’t just inform the photographer that she’d rather not have him take her photo, she tried to claim trumped up charges that he was engaged in a criminal act by taking a photo that just happened to have her in it.

This doesn’t surprise me coming from ACLU representatives because I witnessed a group of ACLU “volunteer observers” at the 2004 Pittsburgh NRA meeting trying to intimidate NRA supporters who were snapping photos of the anti-gun protests taking place on the public space outside of the convention center with similar threats.

One girl in particular, probably an older college student or recent graduate, was particularly aggressive in claiming that gun rights supporters had no right to take any photos at all on the public sidewalk and that she would report us to the police if she thought we took any photos of her sitting on the sidewalk.

I just point out this story because it’s useful to understand that the underlings who may be representing ACLU in some form at any gun-related events may try to use the same false charges that photography in public places is a crime against gun owners to try and intimidate them from documenting an event or participating one way or the other in public protests. I have never seen another ACLU volunteer observer team at an NRA meeting again, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen again.