New Jersey, Where Everything is Illegal

Despite SilencerCo’s marketing, the new suppressed .50 cal muzzleloader is not legal in New Jersey. Let’s face it, what is? New Jersey defines firearms in such a way that even BB guns are firearms under New Jersey law, and if you put a silencer on one, that’ll land you in prison my friends. I’m pretty sure this is also illegal in Massachusetts as well.

Weekly Gun News – Edition 64

It’s time for some tab clearin’. We’ve actually had some positive developments in the past week, namely that the SHARE Act passed committee, and rumor has it a floor vote will be held in October. Time to put pressure on the critters.

Breyer: Second Amendment not about the right of an individual to keep a gun next to his bed. Notice Kennedy didnt’ retire this summer? Nothing changes. I had worried those rumors were meant to push him out, but it looks like he’s staying on at least another year.

The press went absolutely nuts that NRA did a concealed carry fashion show. I saw this all over my news alerts when the Carry Guard Expo was happening. Foreign press particularly covered it.

Science Alert: “Here’s Why Gun Violence Research in The US Is About to Come to a Grinding Halt.” As Glenn Reynolds notes: “Because it’s been a cesspit of politicized pseudoscience for decades.

Breitbart: “Moms Demand Action’s Secret War on Concealed Carry for Law-Abiding Citizens.” I’m not sure it’s all that secret, but then I suppose that wouldn’t generate clicks.

New Jersey is moving to legalize tasers in light of Caetano.

Yehuda Remer: “The National Rifle Association is the Jews’ Safest Place.

John Lott: “Apply background checks for gun purchases to voting.

Tam: “Review: SIG Sauer P320 X-Carry Pistol.

Kopel & Greenlee: The racist origins of gun control.

Scam Artists in the Firearms Community.

California is disarming people who commit misdemeanor hate crimes. Eventually, getting a speeding ticket will be a disqualifying offense. It’s not like the courts will stop it.

LEO Weekly: “Black People Should Arm Themselves NOW!

Dave Hardy on Heller’s common use test. It’s not perfect, but if it was actually followed, we’d have far broader protections than courts now are willing to offer.

Kennedy didn’t retire, so not going to happen: “Supreme Court Urged to Overturn Maryland’s ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban” Cert will be denied.

Police brass comes out against Constitutional Carry in Indiana.

Everytown boss in New York Times: Ban open carry of firearms.

You don’t say: “N.J. in line for tougher gun laws if Democrat wins governor’s race.” Christie has his faults, but he’s been the most pro-gun New Jersey governor of my lifetime, which should give you an idea of what sorry shape that state is in.

Bad Satire Gets Confused with Reality

Apparently a number of gun control groups and at least one Brady Campaign Board Member were confused by a parody Facebook event. Looking through the Facebook Event, it even looks like it was mostly being enjoyed by the “Let’s make fun of those dumb, toothless, cousin humping rednecks” crowd. So either anti-gun groups are really, really dense, or they’re deliberately trying to use this anti-redneck parody to make gun folks look like people who are stupid and irresponsible enough to think shooting a hurricane will help things.

Which is it? I don’t know. I could see them believing gun owners are dumb enough to put something like this together for real. In that case, who’s the joke on here?

This is Always What They Do

They end up in power with grand promises, and then make excuses for why they won’t pass the bill:

“The timing isn’t right.”

“We need a bigger majority to overcome a filibuster.”

“We think this is really more of a second term project.”

I could go on. The right time is when you have the majority. After 2018, who knows what will happen. Historically, we would expect the party in power to lose seats in the midterms. Practically, the prospect of the Dems taking the Senate seems remote, but that’s only because of the peculiarities of this particular election.

Now is the right time to get our bills passed. The SHARE Act has been introduced in the House, finally. Folks in Ryan’s district need to start turning up the heat, particularly.

Baltimore Gun Task Force

Glenn Reynolds notes, “How many members of Bloomberg’s mayors-against-guns group wound up in jail?” in response to the news that there’s only one officer left standing after a bunch of federal indictments in the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force.

My take? The US doesn’t culturally view such services as an important public good, so it is not a high status job in the mind of the public. If that’s the case, the people attracted to busting down doors for guns are those with bad incentives and attitudes. Bloomberg’s problem was that he self-selected a group of people that’s highly prone to graft and corruption, and the results were predictable.

Well, They’ve Been Out Branded by Bloomberg

John Richardson notes that Dan Gross is stepping down as head of the Brady Campaign. He will be replaced by co-presidents Kristin Brown and Avery Gardiner. Co-Presidents? Really? Does that ever work?

The problem the Brady Campaign has is that it’s been outcompeted by Bloomberg. Brady has the problem of being dependent on fundraising from the general public, and the issue has a limited pool of donors. Bloomberg’s money has probably enabled Everytown et al to hoover up a decent chunk of Brady’s donor and support base. I haven’t given much thought to Brady these days, because they are largely irrelevant. Remember, the movement was on the outs before Bloomberg came along, and I can’t imagine things have gotten better for the groups without wealthy patrons.

Liberal Advice Columnist Tackles Gun Ownership

…and it doesn’t end up how one might expect.

One of my weird little guilt pleasures is reading Dear Prudence. She’s young and very liberal who not only lives, but also works in that bubble. Needless to say, I figured I knew which way she would come down on the side of a wife who doesn’t want to buy a gun with her husband who does want one for self-protection in the home.

I have to admit though, I thoroughly agree with her advice. First, she makes clear that the wife does not have to commit to using a firearm if she’s not comfortable doing it. That is absolutely true. Not everyone is going to be comfortable using a firearm or any type of lethal force. Self defense is a personal decision, and just like we should have the right to decide to have access to a firearm to defend our lives and families, others have the right to choose an alternative (or no alternative if they are true pacifists).

After that, though, “Prudie” points out that if her husband is equally determined to own a firearm as the wife is to not using one, there’s still an argument to be made she should know enough about to have a reasonable discussion on safety precautions when it’s around her in the house. Again, that’s perfectly reasonable. I’ve made the case plenty of times that even when one household member isn’t too keen on gun ownership, just having a basic knowledge on how to safely handle it and unload it if needed can go a very long way in easing their comfort with the existence of one at home.

It didn’t come down to politics at all – just a reasonable argument that the couple will need to solve it for themselves and that both have the rights to their views. Could it be that we’re winning more of the culture fight than we might sometimes realize?

If you want a question related to guns that involves a little more drama, there’s this one from July where a girl raised living off the land hunting and fishing in a poor household is involved with a rich girl trying to go vegan and they are getting serious enough to consider kids – except they can’t agree on food. While Prudie says it’s a relationship worth trying to save since this is the only major disagreement, she also kind of quietly acknowledges that there’s a good chance something this major won’t end well for trying to raise children together.

The Law: Tis For The Little People

Despite being illegal under federal law, the US Virgin Islands have declared a gun confiscation. That’s not even speaking about the constitutionality of the whole endeavor. Granted, they are handled by the 1st Circuit, which is pretty gun unfriendly, but the judges would really have to reach to justify upholding this.

For those in the path of the Irma, and I myself have a lot of family, I just want to wish you all good luck. We’re all counting on you.