2013 – Page 18 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Interpol Secretary General Says We Need to Talk about Armed Citizens

The current Interpol Secretary General, the first American to hold the post, says that after the Westgate Mall act of terror, it’s time to start having a serious conversation on the value of armed citizens. He basically highlights that to minimize the risk of these kinds of attacks, we can go to a police state where you need exceptional security to go into any building or there’s the option of an armed populace:

“Societies have to think about how they’re going to approach the problem,” Noble said. “One is to say we want an armed citizenry; you can see the reason for that. Another is to say the enclaves are so secure that in order to get into the soft target you’re going to have to pass through extraordinary security.”

He notes that these terrorists didn’t go to a place like Texas to find victims. They went to a place where citizens are largely unarmed.

Looking up his story, this is a complete break from so many things you would expect about a man with his background. He was born in New Jersey and went to New England for college. He’s a tenured professor, and he served in the Clinton Administration as Undersecretary for Enforcement at the Department of the Treasury. That means he was also involved in the “review” of ATF’s actions at Waco. He has previously been so well liked by his colleagues in the international law enforcement world that his last two elections as Secretary General have been supported unanimously.

Mini News Links

For Monday:

Daryl Metcalfe wants to impeach Kathleen Kane for refusing to defend the state’s marriage laws. Just the kind of thing we want Corbett to have to deal with as we head into a shaky re-election campaign.

Gun T-Shirt ruines Joan Peterson’s vacation, and it looks like the Ugly American may be an ugly Australian. Yes, it’s an offensive T-shirt I think someone would have to be a jerk to wear, but usage is different in other cultures, and someone noticed this looked like non-American usage of the c-word. Don’t let your bigotry get the better of you on vacation!

Looks like another showdown is shaping up in Illinois. They won’t leave well enough alone.

The War on Women continues.

The front-runner in the New York Mayor’s race thinks Bloomberg didn’t go far enough on gun control. He doesn’t think there’s enough socialism to Bloomberg’s activism.

Another school shooting in Nevada.

UPDATE: Colorado wrestles with guns in pot stores. Federally it’s going to be problematic, because selling drugs is a federal crime, and there are sentencing enhancements if you have a gun with you. Additionally, there are federal crimes for carrying a firearm during the commission of other federal crimes.

The Remington 700 Controversy Continues

Someone is calling for criminal charges against Remington execs because he claims the Remington 700 trigger system is dangerous.

The Aleksich lawsuit was over a 1988 incident similar to the one that killed Barberâ€™s son. Fourteen-year-old Brent Aleksich was shot through both legs by his brother, Brock, when the Remington 700 Brock was holding fired after he released the safety, the lawsuit said.

Of course, the question I would have is why you were pointing a rifle at your brother’s legs? This is why we have the four rules. I don’t know enough about the Remington 700 to have an opinion as to whether the trigger is flawed, but this is why we don’t point guns at people.

Campus Carry on the Hot Seat in Pennsylvania

There are currently fourteen Pennsylvania State Universities that are looking at their concealed weapons policy, citing recent court decisions, and a concern for being good neighbors. I tend to think that the regents of state universities are political subdivisions of the state, and therefore preemption should apply to them. Currently, there’s no law in Pennsylvania that prohibits someone with an LTC from carrying on a college campus. Most colleges and universities ban firearms from campus by policy rather than law.

Some 5.7 Myths Busted

There’s a lot of talk in the gun world about the FN-Five-Seven. It’s regularly demonized as a cop killer. The folks at The Firearms Blog put some of the claims to the test with both the sporting ammunition, and with the S190 armor piercing ammunition that is not available to civilians. Their conclusion?

SS197 sporting ammunition from a handgun will not penetrate IIIA armor
SS190 armor piercing ammunition from a handgun will defeat soft body armor
5.7 from a 16â€³ barrel will slice through body armor, but only FMJ will defeat stronger stuff
Surplus German helmets are really, really strong

Read the whole thing. Without the special SS190 armor piercing rounds, which are restricted to government and law enforcement only, the Five-Seven won’t penetrate soft body armor, and won’t penetrate tougher armor even with SS190 unless it’s fired from a rifle.

On Revolvers

Caleb caused quite a stir when he noted that wheelguns are obsolete. Tim followed up, noting that the issue was capacity. Tam notes that the correct word is “obsolescent.”

Any bets on how long it takes for the first commenter to say “If’n my revolver’s so obsole… obsolecs… obso-whatever, why don’t you stand over there and let me shoot it at you?” Hey, a Model A is obsolescent, but I wouldn’t bet you couldn’t drive one to New York.

I used to carry an N-frame sometimes when I hiked, mostly because it’s a cheaper and more reasonable option over a Desert Eagle, if you want a pistol capable of firing a cartridge that can top 1000ft-lbs of muzzle energy. I’ve never had much interest in revolvers other than as a trail gun and for IHMSA competition, back when I had time for that.

Meetings, Meetings, and News

As you might be able to tell, Friday posting is getting more difficult for me, since Friday is basically wall-to-wall meetings for me these days at work, and I’ve been busy enough with other work things to not really have time to do post-aheads the night before. Technically we have launched our new product that I have been working on since starting the new job nearly two years ago, but things don’t really get started until we make a sale. We’re getting pretty close, but it’s still crunch time. But with that, here’s the news for Friday, even though it’s Saturday.

Celebrate diversity. Wait, aren’t they pacifists?

Jim Geraghty has been pretty pessimistic about Ken Cuccinelli’s electoral prospects. McAullife has been throwing the standard “War on Women” playbook against Cuccinelli, who is a darling of social conservatives. Why does this tactic work so effectively in swing states? This is a question the GOP needs to ask itself.

What caliber for giant killer hornets?

JayG has landed a job as a professional gun writer! Congrats! Also in the “Congrats” genre, Weer’d is now father to a new baby girl.

Crushing dissent mercilessly. But hey, we’re told nothing like that could ever happen here by the same kinds of people.

People are upset Magpul hasn’t up and moved yet. Our company is currently looking to move, because we’re running out of space at our current location. We’re only a 25 person company. Trust me, even finding the right space takes a good bit of time. I would advise patience among gun owners.

“Common sense” used to involve banning guns.

I hope the Supreme Court puts the smack down on this practiceÂ among federal prosecutors, because it’s egregiously wrong.

Bloomberg has his fingerprints all over Rahm’s push for new gun control laws.

The Gift the Keeps on Giving

More dead people in Mexico thanks to the Obama Administration’s gun walking scandal… err… sorry… grenade walking scandal. This scandal would have brought down a Republican administration, had something like this happened on their watch. But as it is, it was too easily dismissed as the work of lower-level incompetence.

UPDATE: Just to be clear, the title is sarcastic.

Brown Takes Heat from the Gun Haters

The Los Angeles Times is lambasting Brown’s decision to veto denying gun rights to people convicted of misdemeanor DUI:

Studies show that a gun owner with one misdemeanor conviction â€” such as a DUI â€” is five times more likely to commit a violent crime with a firearm than a gunner with no prior arrest record, according to Garen Wintemute, director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program.

I’m sure it would show a correlation between other lesser traffic offenses and violent crime as well. Does it translate that we should consider lesser traffic offenses as prohibiting? At what point do you just admit you’re trying to deny Second Amendment rights to as many people as humanly possible?

“I was just stunned,” Wintemute says. “He was just wrong on the facts. There is persuasive evidence out there. There are dozens of studies associating acute alcohol intoxication and a history of DUIs with the risk of committing future gun violence. That’s established beyond doubt.”

Instead of restricting their gun rights, why not just ban alcohol? It also raises the question as to why we only suspend their drivers license for 30-10 months for a first offense, and only 3 years for a third offense. And driving, according to the courts, is a privilege rather than a right. I would think the correlation between earning a DUI and eventually killing someone in an alcohol related traffic accident is much much higher than the correlation to future gun violence, and yet we don’t even deny them the “privilege” to drive for 5 years, let alone a lifetime prohibition.

If Garen Wintemute is unhappy with Jerry Brown, maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh on the guy. There’s points to be earned for disappointing the right people, and Wintemute is the kind of busybody who needs to learn to keep his nose out of other people’s lives and choices. It’s also pretty clear, by focusing on the gun issue, Wintemute’s motivation is hating on guns and gun owners, rather than concern for life. In 2010, 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents in the United States. In that same year, 8,874 people were killed in gun-related homicides. I am not suggesting this means California needs to “get tough on crime” in terms or DUI, but it’s worth considering where some people’s priorities lie, and it’s not in saving lives.

More Cases in the Hopper

Emily Miller talks to Alan Gura about the rejection of Wollard v. Gallagher, who notes there are still a number of cases in the hopper. I’d note that any speculation about why the Court keeps rejecting certiorari for carry cases is just that: speculation. There are a list of reasons a mile long why the Court may not want to grant cert. We’ve speculated on the whys, but reality is we don’t really know. Maybe the Court doesn’t want a carry case. Maybe they want to see how all the circuit courts play out. Maybe the giant spinning wheel of fortune they use to pick cases for the term just hasn’t landed on a carry case yet.* Maybe they don’t have 5 votes to win carry because someone got soft in the mean time. We don’t really know.

* OK, they probably don’t select cases that way.