November 2014 – Page 3 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Good News for PA Republicans & Gun Owners

The Senate GOP has dumped Dominic Pileggi (RINO, Delaware) as Senate Majority LeaderÂ in favor of Center County Republican Jake Corman. If there’s any one person who I think deserves the blame for losing the Governor’s mansion, it’s Pileggi. He, along with a handful of other Southeast Republicans, blocked the Corbett Administration from accomplishing anything, including liquor privatization, which was wildly popular with voters, even voters in the Southeast.

If we end up losing on the germaneness issue with enhanced preemption, likewise, you can blame Pileggi and Stu Greenleaf (RINO, Montgomery), who held up the bill long enough that a floor amendment to an existing bill was the only path forward. Maybe now we can see some progress from the GOP Senate, just in time to have everything blocked by soon-to-be-governor Tom Wolf.

Civil Rights Victory in the 9th Circuit

According to NRA’s Annual Firearms Law seminar, the 9th Circuit has denied the Brady Center’s and State of California’s motion to intervene! Remember that the Sheriff who was the defendant in this case declined to file for an en banc rehearing, putting Brady and the Kamala Harris into a panic. Needless to say this is good news, because it means the Peruta decision holds, making California, Hawaii and our pacific territories shall-issue. Savor the victory California and Hawaii, you deserve it. Something tells me the folks at the Brady Center are going to be very sad pandas today.

Bucks County Courier Times: “Pssht… What Rule of Law?”

It’s no surprise to anyone who gets the local rag (I don’t subscribe, I prefer the softness of Quilted Northern, personally) knows that the editorial bent is decidedly anti-gun, so it’s hardly a surprise to see the Bucks County Courier Times offering a ringing endorsement of continued lawlessness on the part of municipalities in Pennsylvania, while simultaneously calling Bucks County RKBA advocates “gun zealots” and fanatics. I’ve come to expect things like this:

If such a weapon is later found to have been used in a crime, the purchaser commonly claims the gun was lost or stolen. The lost or stolen reporting requirement would rescind that free pass and hold straw purchasers legally accountable, as they should be

They keep repeating this, but Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, who combined have populations pushing two million, have yet to actually prosecute anyone under these laws we’re told are so vital to combat this oh so common problem. Why? Supposedly the Bucks County Courier Times folks are journalists. Shouldn’t that be a question you might want to ask the people pushing Lost and Stolen?

Yet, in step with their fanatical opposition to most any gun restriction, the NRA and like-minded gun zealots opposed even that modest attempt to keep guns out of the wrong hands. They claim that local versions of the would-be state mandate are unconstitutional based on a state law requiring gun law uniformity.

In our view, the local measures donâ€™t infringe on the legal possession of a firearm. And so that right remains uniform across Pennsylvania.

We oppose gun control fanatically because it doesn’t work. What’s the big issue right now around the country? Universal Background Checks, right? Pennsylvania has them for handguns, which in . How has it worked to reduce Philadelphia’s crime rate compared to say, Phoenix, where anyone can go strapped without a license of any kind, and guns can be bought and sold between private parties?

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, Philadelphia in 2013 had a violent crime rate of 1100 incidents per 100,000 persons. Phoenix, in comparison, had a violent crime rate of 632 incidents per 100,000 persons. That’s more than 40% less violent crime in Phoenix compared to Philadelphia. How does the staff at the Courier Times explain this disparity?

Now let’s look at that last statement, that local measures don’t infringe on possession. That’s not the issue as to whether it’s infringing or not. The issue is that under state law, local communities have no power to regulate possession firearms and ammunition. Period. That’s already been upheld by the State Supreme Court, who held:

Because the ownership of firearms is constitutionally protected,Â its regulation is a matter of statewide concern. The constitutionÂ does not provide that the right to bear arms shall not beÂ questioned in any part of the commonwealth, except Philadelphia andÂ Pittsburgh, where it may be abridged at will, but that it shall notÂ be questioned in any part of the commonwealth. Thus, regulation ofÂ firearms is a matter of concern in all of Pennsylvania, not merelyÂ in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the General Assembly, not cityÂ councils, is the proper forum for the imposition of suchÂ regulation.

Emphasis mine. So does the Bucks County Courier Times have any respect for the rule of law? Is it OK for municipalities to act outside the law and evade consequences for it because judges like to warp the standing doctrine so that we’re unable to challenge such a violation? It seems to me they are fine with lawlessness, provided it’s lawlessness they approve of.

My Family Veterans

Getting into genealogy has inspired me to ask many more questions about the veterans in my family. I never expected to learn even a fraction of what I have lately.

My paternal grandfather got a bug for flying as a child when he was walking home from work in the late 1920s and he went by the local airport in Ardmore, Oklahoma. A guy with a plane offered him a chance to fly. That man turned out to be Wylie Post. In college, my grandfather joined the ROTC and was called up in June 1941 shortly before he could finish his degree in Petroleum Engineering. He served in the Army Air Corps and was stationed in Burma for his longest stint. He was trained to fly the B-25 and C-46, but after a while they told him to get into an unarmed P-38 and go take pictures of the Japanese. After the war, he went back to school to finish his degree and met a freshman girl who caught his eye – my grandmother. My grandfather survived a plane crash during the war and having a boat sink out from under him, but not skin cancer. He passed when I was 11 months old, so I never knew him.

My dad’s story isn’t nearly so eventful as his father’s story, but he did serve in the Navy during the later years of Vietnam. However, he was never sent over there and his job was primarily making sure people got paid and taking care of the accounting. I’m sure the men who served with him appreciated his ability to do his job. :)

(He’s the second from the right.)

The final picture I have to share was just recently obtained. It’s a picture of CASU-44, my maternal grandfather’s unit in WWII. He enlisted in the Navy, and they put him to work fixing planes because that man can fix absolutely anything. He went to Tinian behind some Marines and, from his stories, was basically working with them most of the time. He was punished for striking an officer after the fresh officer showed up and insulted my grandfather after trying to tell him that the manual said to fix the plane a certain way that my grandfather knew from experience didn’t work. He also told us about getting shot at by the Japanese while delivering ammunition to the other side of the island when he took a wrong turn in the sugar cane. Fortunately, some Marines nearby heard the shooting and pulled him out. My grandfather was put in the hospital when a storm caused the loss of most of their food supplies and they were put on different rations. He couldn’t keep any of it down at all and was no longer able to do as much as the Navy needed him to do. Eventually, he was shipped back to Hawaii and then back home.

(He’s second from the left in the fourth row from the top.)

To relate this a bit back to guns, my maternal grandfather could also shoot a squirrel out of a tree from damn near anywhere, even when other people couldn’t even spot the damn thing. His favorite squirrel gun is still kept loaded by his chair, and it was ordered from the Sears catalog.

The Inevitable Lawsuit Against Preemption Enhancement

I had mentioned before there were issues with germaneness with the preemption enhancement bill, so it’s not surprising to see that a lawsuit has been filed to challenge the law on that issue. Note that having to take this more risky route to pass preemption enhancement wouldn’t have been necessary if it weren’t for intransigence in the part of the GOP leadership of the Senate.

It’s worth noting that there has not been a single prosecution under the numerous “Lost and Stolen” laws that have been illegally passed by municipalities around the Commonwealth, including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. This is despite the leaders of these cities telling us these laws were critical crime fighting measures. None of this is surprising. The City of Philadelphia hardly ever prosecutes gun violations. They are typically add on crimes that get plead away, or in most cases, the cities just refuse to prosecute. Any city leader in Pennsylvania claiming to need these laws need to explain why they aren’t using the ones they already have. How are more going to help? And maybe since you aren’t using the existing ones, we ought to take those away too.

The Latest on Smart Guns

This should be enough to convince anyone that gun control people are technocratic central plannersÂ who are more than just a little uncomfortable with the idea of anyone exercising individual control over their own lives and destinies:

In other words, instead of enforcing â€œsafe environmentâ€ rules by way of checkpoints where guns are not permitted (on airplanes, in consulates and embassies and so on), â€œwe propose to address these safety areas within the firearm itselfâ€. The gun would negotiate its operations by communicating with the safety area transmitter.

So they get to decide on a central basis when you can and can’t defend yourself? Hell no. This is an answer to a question that nobody asked, except for those types that spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to run everybody else’s lives.

It’s good to see inside their minds.

Monday News 11-10-2014

Nothing beats starting out the week with a scaling and root planing at the Dentist. I’ll be happy when my gums no longer feel like someone cleaned them with a wire brush. But I will say, the bill hurt more than the procedure. But there is gun news to be had:

A handy flow chart on how to followÂ the new law in Washington State. Surely no innocent person could ever end up trapped in such a simple system! In other Washington State news, it looks like they are going to be in for a mass protest with civil disobedience. A grand idea.

Miguel takes a look on the stats on household gun ownership. Those are done by polling, and so probably more accurately reflect the percentage of households willing to tell a pollster they own guns, rather than actual percentages which are likely higher.

The narrative in the media seems to be that gun control actually won the midterms. I am disappointed in the midterms, not because we lost, but because I wanted to deal a blow to Bloomberg so hard he’d wonder why he was flushing his millions down the toilet. We didn’t get that. Close, but no cigar.

With that in mind, they are falling in love with the ballot. Gun owners in any state with ballot measures have to be concerned. The narrative is that gun control is on the move and popular among voters.

The voters in Philadelphia would elect Hitler if he ran as a Democrat.

This is an interesting idea in regards to 3D printed guns. Usually a firearm without a rifled barrel is an AOW, and I’ve been wondering if people realize these are potential NFA violation. Here’s the thing, the NFA says the barrel has to be rifled. But it doesn’t say the rifling has to work, does it?

The wages of Obamaism: A sea of red.

Apparently there is precedent to block Supreme Court nominees until the next President. The Republicans absolutely need to do this if there’s a vacancy.

You don’t see this kind of concern in the media and elite about the same types of barriers interfering with the rights of minorities to exercise their Right to Keep and Bear Arms. (h/t SayUncle)

Reason’s Brian Doherty takes a look at Bloomberg’s new strategy. Outspend gun rights proponents 10:1 on ballot measures using rich billionaire friends. Remember, they aren’t against money in politics. They are against your money in politics.

Neither of the two Colorado Recall candidates managed to hold their seats. The antis are trying to spin this as a win, but that is nonsense. We punished the guilty. I doubt you’ll see those replacements touching the gun issue, and if they do, we’ll recall them too.

A First Amendment challenge to a law in California that prohibits advertising of handguns. Dave Hardy also notes that oral arguments for the SAFE Act challenge are scheduled for December 8.

I didn’t think it was possible for a state GOP organization to be worse than Pennsylvania’s, but it is definitely possible.

I’d argue Minnesota stayed blue because they were largely settled by Scandinavian immigrants who have socialism in their blood.

Mit Pulver und Blei, die Gedanken sind frei!

Real progress in the culture wars.

Details Matter – Legislative Whoopsie

Via Josh Prince, we find out that Pennsylvania’s new preemption law isn’t really law…yet. It turns out that someone sent the wrong version of the bill to the Governor.

Josh noted on Facebook that it does mean a new effective date, but the law will still become law.

Maybe Tom Corbett could find a liquor privatization bill that the Senate seemingly forgot to send him to sign before he leaves, too.

The Future of Ballot Measures

Sebastian noted that Bloomberg has rated his top priorities for the next gun control ballot initiatives. The Brady Campaign is quick to follow with their promise to ride his coattails.

However, they want more. They want far more than what Bloomberg is willing to fund right now. They released this map that shows all of the states they want to target in coming years with gun control ballot measures.

Maine isn’t highlighted because the Brady Bunch decided to go with a flashing GIF that colored target states blue one by one and I didn’t quite act fast enough to capture it in time. I didn’t care enough to try again.

Regardless, I wouldn’t completely write this off if you’re in a deep red state that they have colored dark blue on this map. Plenty of gun owners are willing to believe that these laws only target “bad” people and that they aren’t really efforts to entrap otherwise law-abiding people who just get mixed up with what’s allowed and not allowed. Do not assume your state is immune.

Should Ballot Initiatives be Unconstitutional?

There is some discussion in a previous post about how a ballot measure, passed by a rationally ignorant electorate, the vast majority which never actually read the measure, could possible be legal. I share theirÂ disdain for the ballot. Our founders were rightfully quite skeptical of direct democracy, and one needs to look no farther than California to see how the ballot has essentially caused moreÂ trouble than it’s saved. It’s bad enough we have politicians that pass laws they don’t understand without reading them, but at least we can kick them out of office for it. Putting measures up to ballot is just a case of the elite manipulating the ignorant.

I would argue that ballot initiatives are unconstitutional under the Guarantee Clause of the federal constitution. Unfortunately, when the United State Supreme Court decided to look into the issue of whether the ballot was a violation of this clause, it weaseled out, and ruled the Guarantee Clause was purely a political matter, under the jurisdiction of the other two branches.

I do think there might be a court remedy for I-594, but I don’t believe the courts would ever strike down background checks, even for private sales. But we may have a chance in arguing the statute is overly broad, and covers too many constitutionally protected activities, such as a temporary loan of a firearm to a friend or family member, even for protected educational purposes under the Second Amendment. But I also do not believe we have enough firm case law currently to make that argument right now. For now I think Washingtonians are stuck with what the voters have done to them.