2013 – Page 58 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Dean Heller Says No to Manchin-Toomey

Dean Heller, Republican Senator from Nevada, has said he’s unlikely to support any ban on private transactions by gun owners under any circumstances.

â€œWhat weâ€™re doing is criminalizing any private transaction by gun owners,â€ Heller said. â€œâ€¦If we can get the onus off the law abiding citizens and make it a responsibility of those who have committed felons or adjudicated mental health issues, then Iâ€™m open for discussion, but not until then.â€

I’d agree with the author of the post that it would seem Manchin is barking up the wrong tree in trying to influence Heller’s vote. They need to switch six Senators to get to 60.

More NAGR Amateur Mistakes

It looks as if NAGR were robocalling gun owners with the wrong information, and were actually telling people to ask Governor Sandoval to sign the private transfer ban that’s currently sitting on his desk. It would seem they’ve since corrected it, but it’s amateurish mistakes like this which make me not take NAGR or Dudley Brown seriously at all. This article, from someone in Colorado, was a little to “rah-rah my team” for my taste, but it has some interesting bits:

Apparently, Mr. Brown has been (for many years) using third-party â€œfront groupsâ€ that claim to represent hot-button social issues (like abortion and gay marriage), but in reality, are littleÂ more than direct mail operations designed to â€œpunishâ€ Mr. Brownâ€™s opponents. When voters receive these last-minute attack mailers they get the impression that the candidate in question (whichever candidate Mr. Brown opposes at the time) are also opposed by a â€œwide spectrumâ€ of other conservative groups. The mailers are often completely false, as with my own legislative race, where Dudleyâ€™sÂ BeltwayÂ minions sent pieces that claimed that I was pro-gay rights and â€œsoftâ€ on Pro-Life issues. Anyone that knows me, knows these claims are laughable. But by then, the damage has been done.

And just recently, a reader in Virginia who knows my disdain for Brown an NAGR sent me an e-mail from a Virginia State Delegate (no link, sorry) which was sent to supporters:

You see,Â [NAGR] would rather line their pockets, posing as a legitimate gun organization, and attack pro-gun legislators instead of going after the liberal Democrats who boast of taking our guns. Â Simply put, it is a “get-rich-quick” scheme at the expense of gun owners and their rights.

I am their latest target. My primary election isÂ this coming Tuesday, and NAGR is engaging inone false attack after anotherÂ against me.

I am known in Richmond and throughout Virginia as one of our legislature’s staunchest defenders of the Second Amendment. I have an “A+” career rating from the NRA and am endorsed in my current primary election by not only the National Rifle Association and the Virginia Shooting Sports Association, but by legitimate “no compromise” groups like the Virginia Citizens Defense League PAC and Gun Owners of America.Â These folks have seen my good work protecting your rights, and they know the real deal when they see it.

I’m not actually sure it’s so much a “get rich quick” scheme, as it is an attempt to use the gun vote to promote other, unrelated causes in social conservatism that have nothing to do with the Second Amendment. I continue to encourage gun owners to not have anything to do with Dudley Brown or NAGR. Don’t give them money, don’t give them support.

Colorado Senate Recall Issues

I’ll give him credit, it appears as though Colorado’s Senate President is going to cling to power with everything he’s got after his gun control games. According to “A Whole Lot of People for John Morse,” his recall campaign team, they plan to challenge to every single signature filed.

…Morse backers note that they plan to contest every signature submitted if enough are verified to move forward with a recall election.

It doesn’t seem to matter how obviously qualified a signature is, their comments to the press indicate they will still challenge the validity in an attempt to disqualify recall petition signers. Now, I generally don’t have too much of a problem with challenging some signatures. That’s because a certain number of signatures on any legal petition will be invalid. However, if they truly plan to contest every single name, that’s purposely just wasting the time and resources of the courts and agencies overseeing elections in an effort to truly disenfranchise valid and legal voters.

To his credit, not even the Democratic Party leader appears to be willing to go that far. He simply says that they plan to “scrutinize and comb through all of the purported signatures.” Then he follows that up with complaints about the cost of having elections and claims that they are absolutely not in any way talking about asking the Senator to resign in order to keep the seat in Democratic hands–even though Democratic advisors have been very vocal about the possibility of resignation and how it would be less embarrassing for Morse than losing a recall.

Serious Improvements in Carry Laws in North Carolina

Sean Sorrentino has the low down on what the bill would do. It’s not just carry either. It will eliminate the purchase permit requirement that’s a throwback to the era when they were trying to prevent the wrong kind of Americans from exercising their enumerated right to keep and bear arms. It should be up for a vote today. Let us hope this passes. This would be a major improvement for North Carolina.

Because People Might Repair Evil “Assault Weapons”

California is going after makers of repair kits, notes Dave Hardy. I really think at some point we’re going to need pre-clearance for some states, like we’ve had for the voting rights act. Congress needs to being these states into line. Most civil rights in our history haven’t been all that well protected by the courts. I has often taken congressional enforcement to actually do most of the heavy lifting, and I think some of these states may, in fact, require something like that. Just look at how hard it was to drag the Illinois legislature kicking and screaming in the face of a court order to modify their unconstitutional law?

Wednesday News Links

I’ve been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, and Scandalpalooza is still all in the news, but there’s still at least some stories to be linked.

Katee Sackhoff of “Battlestar Galactica” fame says she lost half her Twitter followersÂ because of a comment about gun safety. Thirdpower has more.

We’re going to have a ballot fight on our hands in Washington State. Ballot fights are bad news, especially because we’re up against someone who has the money to fight them. That’s why I’m skeptical of Gary Johnson’s move to try to repeal Colorado’s gun law through the ballot. If this fails, you’ll never get rid of it.

Speaking of Colorado, it seems Hickenlooper is, in fact, Bloomberg’s puppet.

Is Mayor Bloomber’s MAIG anti-gun? Well, at least now he’s admitting it.

Biden is bidding to restart the gun control push. Well, I guess the White House figures it’s a good distraction from Scandalpalooza.

Bloomberg is targeting donors to pro-gun Democrats, and trying to get them to stop donating. Bloomberg is figuring that if he can’t drive Republicans in the gun debate, he can at least kill any pro-gun sentiment in the Democratic Party. If he’s successful in that, it’ll only be a matter of time, since there won’t be one party in power forever.

Maine almost voted for Constitutional Carry in the House.

The Bad Gun Dumpster.

A disabled shooter finally gets to shoot for the first time in 11 years. Comments on reddit seem mostly positive. The company that makes those rigs is here.

More anti-gun grassroots. I’ve seen more people than that at my club meetings.

Also, see this post on credibility in the blog world. More from SayUncle on the subject.

Growing the Astroturf

Miguel calls the head of Mom’s Demand ActionÂ the plastic gardener, noting her background as a PR professional. The question isn’t so much whether she has a PR background, but whether she’s a political hack. Shannon Watts doesn’t look like the same kind of hack asÂ Donna Dees-Thomases, who was a closely tied to the Clintons and the media. It’s the fact that Dees-Thomases was a political hack that destroyed the narrative.Â Someone with a PR background can still be a stay-at-home mom from New Jersey or Indiana, but to suggest someone with close ties to the Clinton Administration is just some ordinary, concerned stay-at-home mom defies credulity. The question with Shannon Watts is who she is politically, and not so much what she did in her professional life, and I’m not sure any of the cases I’ve seen against Watts paint her to be connected at the same level as Dees-Thomases.

Producing the Next Generation of Gun Owners

Yesterday, I was invited to check out the facilities of a Boy Scout reservation that has benefited from a few grants funded by Eastern Pennsylvania Friends of NRA. All I can say is wow. Wow.

It’s not that their facilities (shooting or otherwise) are the fanciest or most amazing I’ve ever seen. It’s the creativity and ingenuity of making every dime their shooting program receives go as far as it possibly can. It’s the fact that many of their campers come from out-of-state – states like Maryland, New Jersey, and New York – so this camp is often the only opportunity the gun community has to reach these boys. It’s the fact that regardless of the fact that they don’t have the facilities to serve special needs and disabled kids, their organizers put their heads together to make it happen and got those boys their rifle merit badges.

Seeing all the ways that they have had to problem solve with limited or restricted funds is mind-blowing, but hearing their hopes for expanding and improving the facilities to focus on accommodating more scouts is just plain impressive. Unfortunately, they can only do it if they receive the funding for it. And this is why I volunteer.

Because more than 5,000 boys from around the PA/NJ/NY/MD area go through this camp every summer. Think about that. More than 5,000 boys have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of shooting safely and get a chance to learn about the joys of the shooting sports every single summer because of this one camp.

Of course, rifle and shotgun shooting aren’t the only thing this camp offers. There’s archery, rock climbing, swimming, fishing, paintball, and even a science building. Apparently, the number of merit badges that can be earned at this one location are pretty ridiculous compared to other camps.

OFA Out with Rallies in Pennsylvania Again

It looks like the Obama machine is trying to distract from the list of scandals piling up, and they are out to rally for gun control again. They’ve got several events in Southeast PA, specifically geared to drive photo ops for press.

If you’re in Rep. Pat Meehan’s district, why not give his office a call on that day and let the staff know that pro-gun voters turn out when it matters – at the polls. The number for the office to be protested is (610) 690-7323.

I’m curious if the turnout will be similar to this Illinois anti-gun rally.

UPDATE: Adding two more SE Pennsylvania events.

Big Push for Hunting in Pennsylvania

It looks like Pennsylvania’s ban on Sunday hunting is going to be challenged in the courts since the legislature refuses to act. The suit will apparently be brought on rather interesting grounds:

Specifically, the letter says “the prohibition on hunting certain species on Sunday” is “unconstitutional under the First, Second and 14th amendments to the United States Constitution.”

And on a somewhat related note, some new partnership to highlight the economic benefits of hunting is launching at the State Capitol tomorrow.

I actually think that the economic benefits of hunting are under utilized as talking points in the Second Amendment community. We look at gun sales data and think nothing of using those data points, but hunting is one of our community’s sports that requires far more than just a gun and ammunition. The equipment and trips drive quite a bit of money into government coffers. That should be highlight just like other economic indicators in the sports.

In fact, I think it would be handy if more groups that sanction, run, or really do any kind of formal organizing of shooting sports did some economic impact studies. Hell, even local gun clubs could just do some not-so-scientific polling of their members to get an idea of what kind of economic impact they have on the local communities, and that can be used when talking to lawmakers about why it’s good to avoid restrictions on our rights.