That’s Some Problem You Solved There

From the Coloradan:

Three people have been convicted for failing to obey the new background check laws since a bill to expand the requirements went into effect in July 2013.

If you listened to our opponents, there’s an epidemic of criminal trafficking going on right beneath our noses, and surely we just need to pass some “common sense” gun control laws to fix the problem. Three prosecutions in two years does not add up to a serious problem. Shouldn’t Coloradans question the motivation of the people who pushed this law as a solution to a crisis in the wake of such a low level of prosecution? Also, only 24,098 of 512,028 background checks have been processed for private party sales during the period this law has been in effect. That’s a sharp contrast from the 40% number that was batted around by gun control proponents who promoted the ban on private party transfers.

Additionally, the article notes the widespread defiance by gun owners of the magazine restrictions. Perhaps gun control proponents would argue that widespread defiance is also responsible for the astoundingly low numbers of checks run for private party transfers. But if so, doesn’t that just speak to the  law’s uselessness? Either this is not the problem our opponents try to sell it as, or the law doesn’t garner enough respect from law abiding persons as to seem worth obeying. Either way, it speaks to the snake oil Bloomberg has sold residents of Colorado.

Harrisburg Spending $20K it Doesn’t Have on Lost Cause

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania doesn’t have two pennies to rub together, yet they have enough money to spend $20,000 of taxpayer coin on what are only the very beginnings of what could end up being a very expensive lawsuit. Even if the city racks up 100,000 in legal bills, they might end up being on the hook for twice that when they get slapped with the other side’s legal bills too.

And for what? These ordinances cannot be enforced, because they are illegal, and have been since preemption was passed in 1974. Even if Act 192 is found to be unconstitutional, that doesn’t change the legal status and unenforcability of their ordinances. So congratulations Harrisburg taxpayers, I suppose it should be no shock that a city who lacks the financial discipline to avoid ended up in front of a bankruptcy court would waste so much taxpayer money in what amounts, essentially, to a feel-good, symbolic act.

Harry Reid is Retiring

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) announced Friday morning he would not seek re-election in 2016.

IIRC either of the likely successors for leadership of the Senate Democrats are avowedly anti-rights; so this should clear the air some.

Kansas Passes Constitutional Carry

Hopefully we don’t lose this one to a veto.

If you live in, near, or have some relationship to Kansas, be sure to contact Governor Brownback to ensure we get a signature here. Remember, Bloomberg tried pretty hard to stop Constitutional Carry in Kansas, and it would be an awful shame to get this far and fail because the Governor didn’t hear from enough of us. If a signature is forthcoming, Kansas will join Vermont, Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming, and Arkansas to become the sixth state to pass Constitutional Carry.

This is continuing to progress. Maybe not quite as fast as shall-issue licensed carry, but it is continuing.

Progressive Racists Don’t Count?

Students at UT Austin are angry that their campus has a statue of a racist on campus:

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Statues of George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. and Woodrow Wilson, can all be found on the UT Austin Campus. But another historical figure among them, has some students angry.

Wait, another figure? You were talking about Wilson right? God help us that these ignorant and poorly educated kids will be running the country when I’m old.

“Jefferson Davis stood for some things that are pretty abominable today; Slavery, racism.” Rotnofsky believes. “They’re just not in line with the university’s core values.”

 

Without diving into the debate over Jeff Davis, if you’re going to tear down the statue of Davis, because he was a racist, you’re going to have to take the one down of ol’ Woody too, because in addition to being a good old fashioned racist and segregationist, unlike Jeff Davis, Wilson also bought into the eugenics movement, all the rage among progressives, that would later go on to form the basis for Nazi race theory.

But it’s OK for us to honor racists, as long as they were sufficiently progressive, right?

Computer Games are a Gateway

To owning the real thing. Caleb takes quite a while to get to the point, but if you’re in a TL;DR mood (or computer gamer jargon grates on you), skip to the last paragraph, where he points out that realistic simulation of real guns are one way to get new blood into ownership of  the real thing.

On Ted Cruz Running

As someone who watched most (really, it was too long) of Cruz’s speed at Liberty U, I have to agree with Charles W. Cooke about Cruz:

And yet, I hated every single moment of the address. Why? Well, because for all his obvious talent Cruz’s rhetorical style frankly makes my hair curl a little. Striking a pose that lands somewhere between the oleaginousness of a Joel Osteen and the self-assuredness of a midwestern vacuum-cleaner salesman, Cruz delivers his speeches as might a mass-market motivational speaker in an Atlantic City Convention Center.

Opening your campaign at Liberty U doesn’t signal to me. Well, it does, but not the benefit of Ted Cruz. I’m still leaning Walker. Tactically, I think Cruz was smart coming out early. He’ll consolidate a lot of support around him that might otherwise go to Huckabee, Santorum, or some of the other culture warriors who may enter the race.

It’s probably important for Walker to win the Iowa Caucuses. That’s probably why he’ll pander. Iowa is a neighboring mid-western state, and a loss there will signal Walker can’t find traction even among his own people. Rand might give Walker a run for his money in New Hampshire and Colorado, and non-southern politicians typically don’t do well in southern primaries, so South Carolina isn’t a sure thing either.

Still, we’re a year away from the start of the silly season, and Putin could get a lot more frisky, the middle east could be an even bigger mess, the economy could tank again, and all that could change the dynamic of the race.

NAGR Opposing National Reciprocity

See NAGR’s release here.

I was previously wary of National Reciprocity supported solely on the herpes theory of the commerce clause, so I don’t outright scoff at people’s concerns with federal involvement in this area. But with the advent of Heller and McDonald rulings, Congress now has another, more constitutional avenue to legislature in this area, namely Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, which grants Congress the power to enforce its provisions that guarantee rights. This has been used to promote civil rights in many contexts in the post-Civil-War period. National Reciprocity is really a quite appropriate exercise of this power, given that the Heller decision assumed a right to carry a firearm, and the Court applied it to the states in McDonald. In fact, I’ll go farther and argue that Congressional action is likely the only way we’re going to restore the Second Amendment to the few remaining states which disrespect it. So let me take on some of NAGR’s arguments.

NAGR argues that the Second Amendment is the only license you should need. No one steeped in this debate disagrees that there should be no licensing requirement for exercising your Second Amendment rights. But Congressional action here doesn’t necessarily legitimize licensing. Previous Supreme Court rulings make Congressional action on unsettled issues like licensing problematic. Even with National Reciprocity, the other side will certainly argue City of Boerne v. Flores, which circumscribed Congressional power under the 14th Amendment. Congress attacking licensing might spark a turf war with the courts, such as happened in the City of Boerne case. We want to be cautious about reaching too far without more guidance from the Court.

NAGR argues that this bill is a trojan horse that will pave the way for federal control of licensing and carry. That is false. This bill gives no federal agency any regulatory control. It will be a law passed by Congress and enforced by the federal courts against the states. Could Congress pass such regulatory control in the future? Sure. But they can do that whether we pass National Reciprocity or not. Groups like NAGR act like anti-gun folks never thought of passing federal gun control before we gave them the idea. Nonsense!

NAGR uses Obama’s lawlessness as a reason not to do this. But this bill offers Obama no regulatory power to abuse. Could he just mandate something anyway? Sure, but again, he could do that right now. It will come down to what the federal courts let him get away with. That’s true with or without federal reciprocity.

NAGR calls this the “National CCW Registration Act,” despite the fact that there is no registration component to the bill. Nothing changes in regards to federal involvement in carry permitting, and nothing could change. All the law does is demand that states recognize each other’s licenses to carry. No more, no less.

NAGR is simply wrong on this issue, very badly wrong. Some Senators and Congressmen may use Dudley Brown’s opposition as cover to avoid taking a hard vote on this.  I’ve made no secret that I don’t like Brown or his organization, but even I honestly don’t know what’s he’s even thinking here.

I don’t think we ought to stop with National Reciprocity either. Lately I’ve liked Glenn Reynolds idea of mandating that, for someone not prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm, they can’t be sentenced to more than a petty offense, with a fine not to exceed $500 dollars, for any firearm violation not involving the commission of another serious, violent crime. It would be a good next step, and hopefully compatible with City of Boerne. At the least, it represents the kind of remedy we can probably only get from Congressional action under the 14th Amendment.

I would ignore NAGR’s plea to oppose this law, and make sure your friends know it too. NAGR has built up quite a Facebook presence, so Dudley could do serious damage in trying to move this or any other federal civil rights bills forward if more sensible people don’t help educate.

News Links for Tuesday 03-24-2015

News today has been pretty scarce, but I think I might have enough for a news link post:

Following up on progress in the states, the Florida Senate just passed a bill that allows people to carry a firearm without a license during a mandatory evacuation. It still needs a House vote, but it’s at least on the floor. Arizona is having a hearing for a bill, previously vetoed by Jan Brewer, that would allow carry in public venues like stadiums. I had not mentioned these bills in the previous post. Like I said, too many pro-gun bills to track! Good problem to have.

Moms Demand Action’s war on women: Against allowing expedited permit processing for women under active threat from a stalker or in an abusive relationship.

Boomberg has been smearing Scott Walker by pointing out he once supported a gun control bill. You know things are bad for the other side when they try to cause problems for politicians for supporting their bills!

Good guy with a gun saves lives in a Philadelphia barber shop.

New Jersey claims yet another innocent victim with their gun laws. This keeps happening because New Jersey’s gun laws entrap innocent people by design. It’s a way of rigging the law so easy and routine mistakes are felonies, and they can still look down on you smugly for thinking they are after your guns.

NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show generated $73 million for PA’s Harrisburg-Hershey region. How much money did CeaseFire PA’s Everytown Gunsense Show generate? Oh wait….

CSGV will soon deliver their petition to Fox’s Washington affiliate, WTTG, to have Emily Miller fired. Oppose them, and they’ll ruin your life. But remember, they’re all about peace and love.

Fresh off their defeat on ammunition, the Administration is now trying to make it harder for people to travel internationally with firearms.

Sued: Lower Merion Township gets sued for their illegal gun ordinances by FOAC and Josh Prince. We gave them a chance to comply with the law, and they gave us the finger. Now they can cut us a check for our trouble and have their ordinances struck by a judge.