Reid is considering the “nuclear option” to ending the filibuster. At this point, it may only end up applying to nominees, but that’s not clear. It’s worth noting that the filibuster is the only thing keeping gun control from passing the Senate. Of course, it’s also the only thing keeping national reciprocity from passing as well. We could end up with a Manchin-Toomey like deal with national reciprocity tacked on to it. How bad do the likes of Bloomberg want Manchin-Toomey? Probably not at the cost of letting us tote firearms in Manhattan.
Year: 2013
Who Will Try to Ban Your Rifle this Week?
Communities have until Friday to get in under Illinois’ grandfathering, because all firearms ordinances get preempted. Several are going to try for bans this week. This is like the lottery, you have to play to win, except the odds of winning are much much higher when we play.
Zimmerman Roundup
One thing I have to say is that I’m glad the Zimmerman case is over, because I’ve grown tired of this whole case. Of course, it’s over, or is it? The feds are deciding whether they want a stab at him too. Jonathan Adler has an excellent write up of that possibility over at Volokh. He seems to think the feds will take this Very Seriously, and then pass.
Meanwhile, Eugene Volokh suggests if the Zimmerman case suggests there should be anything changed in regards to Florida’s law, perhaps they should look at the six person jury law. In all but one other states, for serious crimes, juries are composed of 12 people.
Massas Ayoob has his say on the case, and will have more to say. He’s been silent because he’s been involved in the case.
Apparently people on the streets have more measured opinions than many in the media. That’s probably why there hasn’t been much in the way of rioting that a lot of people feared. Though, I’ve seen my share of people on Facebook who still think this was about 13 year kid who was hunted down for buying skittles, and who obviously didn’t follow the case or the trial one iota since they heard the initial narrative. But that jury, who actually heard all the evidence, how could they get it so wrong??
Mike Bloomberg thinks we need to stop with these “shoot first” laws, even though this was a pretty run-of-the-mill self-defense case where stand-your-ground never entered into the equation.
Michael Bane thinks it’s a huge victory for self-defense, and offers some useful advice. Tam has some similar thoughts about getting involved. I’m not your sheepdog. If it’s not my ass on the line, I’m not getting involved. The powers that be don’t want to see anymore of this. They’re from the government, and there to help, OR ELSE!
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has a predictable reaction to the Zimmerman verdict. They don’t believe in self-defense. To them, Hitler was a victim of tragic gun violence.
Shooting-Related Craftiness
I recently found a vintage Friends of NRA committee member pin on Etsy for a steal, and I’d like to clean it up and do something cute with it. For this year, I’ll stick to just wearing it as-is. I’d like to do something crafty with it, but I don’t actually know how to make jewelry, nor am I particularly creative.
In the meantime, I went surfing on Etsy again for a little gun jewelry inspiration and found some pretty stuff worth sharing.
Right now, I’m thinking charm bracelet for my new (old) pin. I suspect that’s something I could manage to make on my own without too much effort.
In other antique gun news, the city of Harrisburg is having an auction to rid itself of all the crap that a former MAIG mayor bought on the city’s dime while claiming it was for a museum. (Last year, the Department of Justice opened up an investigation into his questionable spending, so he’s another misbehaving Bloomberg ally.) Part of the collection is a series of antique firearm advertisements, plus several historic guns.
A Sense of Perspective
In yesterday’s news links, I linked to an article that actually linked to my Tiny-Tiny RSS instance. Ooops. I fixed the link, but the article, written by Tam, I think was good enough to link here. Just a bit of perspective.
Shifting Policy by Ignoring Reality
As much as we often mock anti-gun advocates when they are just blatantly and laughably wrong about facts, it would appear that some groups are actually using this as a strategy. The crazy thing is that I’m not sure that it won’t prove effective over time.
Theodore Bromund shares an email received by a Congressional office from eight gun control groups that were opposed to Rep. Mike Kelly’s amendment to the Defense Department budget to ban using funds for implementation of the UN Arms Trade Treaty. What’s interesting about it is that they really approach the entire debate as though the US has already signed on and ratified it. They also get many basic facts wrong, but many of those misstated “facts” add up to creating the perception that the Arms Trade Treaty is the law of the land. How many Congressional staffers will know they are wrong? Very few.
Throughout their email, the NGOs completely fail to distinguish between the ATT and the authority of Congress: as they see it, everything the U.S. does in the realm of arms export control is already regulated by the ATT.
In fact, that’s the NGO strategy: Set up the ATT as the controlling moral and legal authority for U.S. policy, then slowly reinterpret the ATT to drag U.S. policy into alignment with their preferences.
Just to add some icing to the cake, Bromund also notes that UN is setting up a program to fund these anti-gun groups to provide “legal or legislative assistance” in expanding the Arms Trade Treaty to more countries.
Another Misbehaving Mayor in MAIG
He hasn’t been arrested or charged with a crime at this point, but San Diego Mayor Bob Filner admits that he has been sexually harassing female employees who work under him and then trying to intimidate them. He claims that his continued sexual harassment and intimidation efforts against his victims can be cured with a little bit of “help” and some more sexual harassment training.
In the meantime, Filner would like you to know that joining MAIG and standing up against law-abiding gun owners is one of his top accomplishments in his term. Oddly, I don’t see a mention on that list of his effort to create a sexually hostile work environment for women and trying to intimidate those who think they have some “right” to not be harassed by their employer, but that certainly seems to have been a priority for him!
Mayor Mike Bloomberg really does surround himself with some quality folks in Mayors Against Guns.
Under Lawsuit, Colorado Backs Down A Little
With the threat of a temporary injunction looming, the State of Colorado decided to back off the claim that even temporary transfers of magazines constitutes a transfer, and magazines with removable baseplates will no longer be considered “readily convertible.” Apparently this agreement will have force of law. The lawsuit will still go ahead, but this is at least some progress. Hopefully not progress that will quell any flames of anger gun owners feel to the politicians who did this to them. They still need to get the boot come election time.
There’s an App for That
While on principle I have no issues with something like this, because it’s not government, it’ll likely end up being used by our opponents to punish responsible gun owners. Especially those of us who are vocal about standing up to them.
“The gun rights community has been busy making personal threats (we remain unconcerned), as well as spamming the Gun Geo Marker database with false markers,” he exclusively told FoxNews.com. “Though these fake markers are not useful for identifying dangerous guns and owners, they are certainly representative of the highly paranoid reaction we have come to expect from any attempt to improve gun safety in the United States.
I kind of like the idea of a disinformation campaign, but at the same time I’d hate to drag some random schlob into this whole thing.
News Links for Thursday 7/11/13
Been battling on multiple fronts, but none of them are the blog, so here’s all the news that’s fit, or perhaps unfit, to link.
The 2nd Circuit has found that charging more than 300 dollars to get a license to exercise a fundamental constitutional right is just peachy.
Das Iron Glock. I guess they don’t have to be made of plastic. Looks like something someone could make in their garage.
Ruger is opening a plant in North Carolina. Well, it’s not the first time that people have been driven out of New England by religious fanatics, is it?
Meanwhile, Kahr is moving from New York to Pennsylvania. I’d have kept moving south. I’ll feel better about Pennsylvania if Corbett gets a second term, and Kane is a one termer. Until then, I think there’s a danger we’re going blue all over eventually.
Meanwhile, NSSF is filing suit in Connecticut, challenging their new gun control on the grounds that Governor Malloy abused the emergency legislation provision of state law. I’d consider this a long shot. A similar challenge against New York’s intolerable acts hasn’t fared all that well so far.
Speaking of courts not taking rights seriously, the 2nd Circuit court of appeals has found New York’s 300+ dollar permit to be just fine constitutionally. Poor people don’t need rights, or at least not rights that are disapproved of by the blue elite.
The Congressional Black caucus is urging Obama not to back off gun control.
A word of caution to mulsurp lovers out there.
ABA hears stand your ground testimony in Philadelphia. There’s concern about racial disparity. Everything has to be about race these days. SYG should equally protect people of all races if they are engaged in lawful self-defense. End of debate on that count.
A debate over at Volokh on whether “arms” as in those you keep and bear, means you can keep and bear more than one. Both say yes, but one disagrees it can be arrived at textually. Response to that here. And even more here.
All gun deaths are equally tragic?
The Ms. Magazine train wreck is to the continue. I love all the talk is how we’re bullies. To the gun control advocates, a bully is just someone with better arguments.
You can’t order a sense of perspective off Amazon, but you can go read this.