2014 – Page 36 – Shall Not Be Questioned

WaPo Freaks Out About 80% Lowers

Resident pearl clutcher Sarai Horwitz penned an article in yesterday’s WaPo talking about the latest “loophole,” meaning thing that is perfectly legal that we don’t like:

Zawahriâ€™s assault became one of the most notorious cases involving unfinished receivers, which are unregulated and have become readily available for purchase online and at some gun stores.

One of the most notorious? It’s the only one I’m aware of at all. But of course, they have to make this appear to be a bigger problem than it really is.

ATF officials say gun enthusiasts are effectively exploiting a loophole in the law designed to regulate firearms. Under the Gun Control Act of 1968, it is illegal for an unlicensed person to make a firearm for sale or distribution. Vendors, however, say that because the receivers are not finished, they are not firearms and therefore are legal to sell and distribute.

It’s not a loophole. The law has to define what a firearm is, so any firearm boiled down to its components will always have one serial numbered part that ATF considers “the firearm,” usually the receiver. ATF also makes determinations on what is and isn’t a receiver, so I find it interesting that ATF is classifying this as a loophole when it’s ATFs own determinations that make it so. What goes unmentioned is that you have to define what a receiver is. If you get ridiculous with it, hunks of metal and plastic suddenly become illegal.

But I suspect the target is home gun building. Before the gun control supporters and their helpful lapdogs in the media can make any progress toward making home building and home gunsmithing completely illegal without a license, they first have to demonize it, and make it appear to the uninitiated to be some kind of shadowy underworld rather than people engaging in a hobby.

Jersey City Trying to Manipulate Industry Into Screwing Us

From yesterday’s Wall Street Journal:

Gun-control advocates and firearms industry representatives said Jersey City is the first municipality in the nation to demand such information. Questions include how firms dispose of old weapons and comply with background-check laws, and whether they make semiautomatic riflesâ€”often called assault weaponsâ€”for sale to civilians, according to bid documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The requirement went into effect earlier this year for gun and ammunition contracts worth at least $500,000 for Jersey City’s 800-member police force. The purpose: to try to change the firearms industry through the power of the city purse.

This is part of the efforts of the Bloomberg gun control organizations to attempt to strong-arm gun manufacturers and distributors into participating into their gun control schemes. I’d note that any manufacturer or distributor who goes along with Jersey City’s, or any other city’s requirements, will suffer the Smith & Wesson treatment. Smith & Wesson suffered under a massive boycott in the late 90s, early aughts,Â when their former British owners colluded with the Clinton Administration and Andrew Cuomo (then HUD director):

The two companies that are bidding for Jersey City businessâ€”Atlantic Tactical of Pennsylvania and Lawmen Supply Co. of Pennsauken, N.J.â€”are respected regional companies that sell to law enforcement but aren’t national household names.

Links to the businesses added by me. They look like Law Enforcement supply shops, so we may not have a whole lot of sway over their actions if they mostly don’t sell to civilians. I also don’t want to hang a company out to dry that truthfully answers “Why yes, we sell semi-automatic firearms to civilians if the fulfill the federal requirements and pass a background check, and yes, we do resell surplus police firearms under the same conditions. Here’s our bid, you can take it or leave it.” What we have to watch for are companies who agree to stop selling to civilians, or agree to destroy surplus firearms rather than resell them to civilians.

Some activists in New Jersey may want to familiarize themselves with New Jersey’s FOIA equivalent, if they have one, and start looking into what they are asking, and what answers are being provided. We have to make sure that cities who do this are punished, by no one wanting to do business with them.

Good Gun Deed of the Day

Today’s good gun deed has me practically bouncing in anticipation for people to check their email inboxes and (hopefully) get back to me. When we returned from the NRA Annual Meeting, I went through the photos of the Revolutionary War display and looked up every name in the DAR patriot database.

I found one match between a gun that definitely belonged to an ancestor of two living members. With the help of another woman in my chapter, I actually tracked down the member names and their chapters – both in Illinois – and emailed the chapter leaders today with a high resolution photo of the rifle and powder horn.

I can’t even imagine how excited I would be if someone emailed me to let me know that a gun used by my Revolutionary War ancestors was still around and in great shape. In both cases, the man who owned and used the rifle was the 5th great grandfather of these women. Even the person in my chapter who just helped me find out who to contact is really excited about sort of “reuniting” this gun (at least in photo form) with his descendants.

This really makes me want to find other collections of Revolutionary War arms and see which ones can be tracked back to other people with proven descendants. It feels good to share this history that’s not only part of their family history, but is also key to American history.

Are There Grounds to Sue the Attorney General?

After doing a bit of research with the Wayback Machine, and reading over the letter Kane’s office sent to her counterpart in Utah, it looks like Kane actually revoked statutory recognition, rather than altering a reciprocity agreement. There are two ways to grant reciprocity under Pennsylvania law, the first is by formal agreement with the reciprocal state, and the second is by any state that both recognizes our LTC, and that “[t]he Attorney General has determined that the firearm laws of the state are similar to the firearm laws of this Commonwealth.”

Tom Corbett, who is now Governor, determined that both Idaho and Utah’s laws were substantially similar, and granted both Utah and Idaho statutory recognition. Along comes Bloomberg’s bought-and-paid-for Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, and without any change in either statesÂ law, she decided that because they issued to non-residents, they were not similar. It should be noted that Pennsylvania issues to non-residents as well, so this should not be a reason to deny statutory recognition underÂ 18 Pa.C.S. 6106(b)(15). I would argue that the statute in question does not offer the Attorney General the power to deny or rescindÂ recognition merely because she disagrees with policy, but requires her to articulate where the incompatibility lies.

The question then is, would this be actionable in court? I’d argue that she simply does not have any power, absent a change in the reciprocal state’s law, to rescind statutory reciprocity with another state merely over a political beef with the existing recognition? If this is not actionable in Court, then 18 Pa.C.S. 6106(b)(15) is essentially meaningless. In that case, we should remove the Attorney General’s discretion, and offer blanket recognition to any state that recognizes us, or even better, just recognize permits from any other state by statute.

NJ Ban Passes: Time to Put Pressure on Chris Christie

The gun and magazine ban passed the New Jersey Senate by a vote of 22-17, so it now heads to the Governor’s desk. Please contact Governor Christie and ask him to veto the magazine and gun ban. Needless to say the other side is pleased:

GREAT NEWS! A2006/S993 passes NJ Senate by vote of 22-17!! #NJGunSafety #gunsense

— Ceasefire NJ (@CeasefireNJ) May 12, 2014

Let us do our level best to make this a short-lived victory for them. I believe there is a good chance we can convince Governor Christie to veto this.

Kathleen Kane Rescinds Utah Reciprocity

I don’t have a story to link to here, but it appears that Kathleen Kane’s office has quietly dumped our reciprocity agreement with the State of Utah. You will notice it is absent on the AG site, and if you look at handgun law.us, it notes at the bottom that as of yesterday, “Pennsylvania NO Longer Honors Utah.” That she would do this quietly is unconscionable, because it makes it far more likely someone is going to end up in prison because they were unaware of the reciprocity change. This isn’t the first reciprocity agreement she has revoked. On July 29th of last year, the same day that Pennsylvania gained statutory reciprocity with Kansas, she rescinded our reciprocity agreement with Idaho.

The Attorney General’s office, under state law, has an duty to sign reciprocity agreements in 6109(k):

(k) Â Reciprocity.–

(1) Â The Attorney General shall have the power and duty to enter into reciprocity agreements with other states providing for the mutual recognition of a license to carry a firearm issued by the Commonwealth and a license or permit to carry a firearm issued by the other state. To carry out this duty, the Attorney General is authorized to negotiate reciprocity agreements and grant recognition of a license or permit to carry a firearm issued by another state.

(2) Â The Attorney General shall report to the General Assembly within 180 days of the effective date of this paragraph and annually thereafter concerning the agreements which have been consummated under this subsection.

I’d argue that concurrent with that duty is not to exit reciprocity agreements that have been negotiated under this subsection. I’d note that Pennsylvanians can still carry in Utah and Idaho, because those states honor any other state permit. But residents of Utah and Idaho may no longer lawfully carry in Pennsylvania. For residents of those states, I’m very sorry, but elections have consequences, and when we elect a Bloomberg-bought Attorney General, these are the wages.

I’d really like to see NRA put some legislative muscle into fixing this problem. First suggestion would be to blow up 6106(b)(15)(ii):

(15)Â Â Any person who possesses a valid and lawfully issued license or permit to carry a firearm which has been issued under the laws of another state, regardless of whether a reciprocity agreement exists between the Commonwealth and the state under section 6109(k), provided:

(i)Â Â The state provides a reciprocal privilege for individuals licensed to carry firearms under section 6109.

(ii)Â Â The Attorney General has determined that the firearm laws of the state are similar to the firearm laws of this Commonwealth.

And by clarifying 6109(k) to make clear that the Attorney General may not revise or rescind existing agreements unless the reciprocal state requests it, or there has been a change in the reciprocal state’s statutory law. Most importantly, I think we all need to work to make sure Kathleen Kane becomes a one-term Attorney General.

UPDATE: Here’s a copy of the letter sent to Utah. I thought she had tweaked all the agreements with states that issued to non-residents so that PA would not recognize non-resident permits? Why suddenly get rid of the whole thing? Also, Superior Court has already ruled that PA residents must have a PA LTC to carry in PA. This is just a way to screw us and to please her patron Bloomberg, if you ask me.

Monday Gun News

Some of this should really have been part of the Saturday news, but I’m trying to adopt a new way of doing things, by using a feature of my RSS reader rather than tabs, to mark articles I’m interested. But I only get about half my stories from RSS, so I forgot about them. Anyway, here’s we go:

General Gun News:

More guns, less crime. It’s almost like John Lott was right! John Lott, BTW, is trying to crowd fund more research.

A well-regulated militia, in Mexico. They are looking to bring more of the rural militias under state organization.

Joe Biden strikes again: Washington Homeowner arrested for firing a warning blast with a shotgun.

Massad Ayoob: Who do you want on your jury?

The FBI is opening investigations into what happened out at the Bundy Ranch. I would say it’s probably poor OPSEC to glass federal agents and then give a newspaper interview which includes your actual name.

I’m still not sure I understand fully what “NRA Freestyle” is, but whatever it is, I’m sure NRA’s PR firmÂ is charging a fortune for it ;) I kid, I kid. If the idea works it’ll be worth it.

22 states have signed on to oppose the SAFE ActÂ via an amicus brief in federal court. Pennsylvania is not one of them, nor will it be, because Kathleen Kane is our AG and elections have consequences.

I guess they were just waiting for us to clear out of town before they libeled usÂ by running an op-ed by known hate-monger Josh Horwitz.

It looks like CeaseFirePA’s latest protest this weekend numbered about the same as our side’s counter protest.

Anti-Gunners:

They aren’t against money in politics, they are just against your money in politics. Your 25 dollars to NRA-ILA = Evil. One rich billionaire funding a whole political movement = peachy.

The reason the gun control movement has failed, is because they aren’t speaking in the context of public health. How many more old, failed ideas are they going to pitch as new ones? They’ve been trying the public health approach since the Clinton Administration.

More bellyaching that we oppose smart guns. We only oppose them because you tried to mandate them, and then had the further audacity to exempt the police, who didn’t want them, all the while telling everyone they did. There are consequences to losing trust. Now it is technology to be opposed, because the other side never would agree to just let the free market sort it out.

If the goal was to turn perhaps a million New Yorkers into instant felons, then I agree, SAFE is working just fine.

Why are anti-gun lefties so racist?

Legislative:

The New Jersey Senate will vote on the magazine and gun ban today.

Guam goes shall-issue. The dominos are starting to fall.

Missouri is going to have a measure to shore up its RKBA provision on the ballot this November’s election.

Science & Technology:

Why correlation does not equal causation.

Joe Huffman: “I think the lesson to be learned is that if you leak electromagnetic radiation you can be tracked.“

How Many More Losses Will it Take?

By now most of you have probably heard the story of a Texas Open Carry incident involving long guns in a Jack-in-the-Box that reportedly came with an “enthusiastic” police response. It turns out the fact that employees were terrified and hid in the freezer appears to beÂ a lie by the Bloomberg gun control organization, but a lie can often get around the world before The Truth has a chance to get its pants on. (This goes double when you have an unquestioning media that likes a good story and is institutionally hostile to civilian gun ownership and the Second Amendment.)

The actions of this local group have apparently caused a rift in the movement. In truth, I think rifle OC is a bad idea generally, but I appreciate statewide group is at least sensitive to not causing panics by making it policy to notify police. But you have to choose tactics understanding the limitations of your people, and one problem I’ve long had with OC activism, is even while many people are smart about how they do it, it’s a tactic that is inherently attractive to attention whores, and it only takes a small number of bozos to ruin things for everybody.

As to be expected, Moms Demand Action began immediately pressuring Jack-in-the-Box to ban firearms in their restaurants. Â Yesterday, Jack-in-the-Box went full Starbucks, releasing a statement:

Creating a warm and inviting environment for all of our guests and employees is a top priority for Jack in the Box. The presence of guns inside a restaurant could create an uncomfortable situation for our guests and employees and lead to unintended consequences. While we respect the rights of all of our guests, we would prefer that guests not bring their guns inside our restaurants.

To be equally expected, Moms Demand Action quickly declared victory. Maybe it’s a good time to bring up my post from September of last year: “What Can Starbucks Teach Us as a Community?” Â So I’m now asking: how many more cracks and fissures in our gains in the culture wars are we going to see? How many more losses are we going to have to endure before these types of “activists” understand that they are only serving to erase gains we’ve made rather than build on them. I get that I’m one voice, on one blog, but I’m asking you rifle OCers, pretty please, with sugar on top, think before you act.

Saturday Gun News

There hasn’t honestly been much gun news this week, but since I was pretty much off the air yesterday, I’ll see if I can give it a go:

General Gun News:

This is an outright lie, but Bloomberg is putting up serious money to feed this stuff to an unquestioning media.

Ladd Everitt, Director of Communications for CSGV is a big comic book fan. I think we found his superhero.

Chuck Michel profiles Don Kates, who most scholars in this Â issue agree was the foundation of the movement to restore the Second Amendment.

Boomershoot 2014 private fireballs.

I once heard Bob Cottrol once remark that if one wanted to be a consistentÂ liberal, oneÂ would favor programs to help the poor afford firearms. Well, Professor, meet Democratic NH State Representative Timothy Horrigan.

The court case challenging Washington D.C.’s ban on carry, Palmer v. DC, is still awaiting a decision, after years.

Very cool video that shows how AK-47 magazine are made. I wouldn’t want to get my hand or fingers caught in any of those heavy presses.

Sort of Off Topic:

Only one percent of the population is politically active. That’s why it’s easy for a small group that is very motivated to make a big difference. Democracy works for those who show up.

Off Topic:

From the UK:Â Kids get lost on a field trip, then and now.

Tell me something I don’t know: Vast majority of people who claim gluten intolerance don’t actually have any gluten intolerance, study shows.

Pro-Gun Appropriations Do Well in House

President Obama can make new rules all he wants, but that doesn’t mean Congress has to fund implementation of them. Among the items is a rider preventing ATF from spending funds on reporting requirements for long guns, preventing implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty, and preventing ATF from requiring dealers to report their inventory. Additionally, it looks like a few anti-gun proposals were shot down, including denying people their Second Amendment rights due to their inclusion on a secret government list. This is a battle fought every year, because the White House can’t easily veto the whole budget, but he can more easily veto permanent legislative fixes.