Author: Sebastian

God Bless Texas

A friend of mine was in the path of Ike.  Their apartment complex suffered some bad damage.  She’s safe at home with her parents now, but wants to head back to get her stuff, despite police advisement to stay out of Houston.  She does not have a license to carry (we need to change that), but I’m glad that Texas law lets her to what she needs to do while armed:

Sebastian: Is your area a bit lawless right now?
Carrie: Things seem to be ok
Carrie: In Pasadena where my folks are is fine, I think.  but they have power
Carrie: In the places without power and water, it’s not so good and will only get worse until everything is restored
Carrie: They’re arresting people right and left for looting though, and citing people for breaking curfew
Carrie: so that’s good
Sebastian: Well, make sure if you go you either take your dad with you, or carry.  I doubt in a lawless area the cops are going to give a single woman a hard time.
Sebastian: Do you know whether your stuff is OK?
Carrie: Yeah we went over there yesterday and everything was fine
Carrie: We’re going this afternoon and taking a bunch to my folks’
Sebastian: Can your dad go with you?
Carrie: I think we’ll be ok
Carrie: But we’ll probably call him to meet us there and bring the truck
Carrie: What’s the penalty in Texas for carrying concealed without a permit?
Sebastian: It’s legal to have a gun in your car in Texas without a license
Carrie: hmm
Sebastian: It’s perfectly lawful for you to carry a firearm concealed in a vehicle, and to carry it to and from your place of residence from your car.
Sebastian: So you can carry, just don’t wander around with a concealed gun
Carrie: What do you mean, wander around?
Sebastian: Basically you’re allowed to carry the gun back into your house
Carrie: ah
Sebastian: And when it’s in a vehicle, it should not be in plain view.
Carrie: nod
Sebastian: If you go wandering around, it’s a Class A misdemeanor, which is a serious misdemeanor
Carrie: All right
Sebastian: What pistol do you have?
Carrie: I’ve only got that tiny .22
Carrie: It’s at my house
Sebastian: We need to get you a real gun :)
Carrie: And my dad has this massive .38 revolver
Carrie: I know
Sebastian: Can you borrow that?

Does someone from one of the gun control groups want to come on and tell me how much safer my friend Carrie would be if she were completely disarmed in the wake of a hurricane?  Can someone say whether in this circumstance it ought to be illegal for her dad to lend her a firearm?  Should it be a felony for me to lend her one?  Is that reasonable gun control?

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Hook, Line and Sinker

You know, we in the gun blogosphere tend to snicker at the Brady’s over the top fear mongering.  I have to admit, it would be a lot more funny if there weren’t a lot of folks in the media buying it.  Look at this article from Homeland Security Today:

Even more seriously from the standpoint of homeland security according to the report, H.R. 6691, the report claims, would even allow open carrying of .50 caliber sniper rifles, capable of destroying armored personnel carriers, aircraft and bulk fuel and ammunition sites. These guns can penetrate several inches of steel, a three and a half inch storm sewer cover, or a 600-pound safe. They are accurate at up to 2,000 yards, and can inflict effective damage to targets over four miles away.

Except the Marine Corps demonstration video that showed a .50BMG shooting through a safe, and several inches of steel, was with a special high explosive armor piercing round that’s only available to the military, and rounds that aren’t .50 can penetrate a half inch of mild steel (which is what manhole covers are made from).  Reporters don’t know this, so they are fooled.  The Brady’s may have gone way over the top with this, but most of the media is too ignorant to question it.  It may be dishonest, but it works.

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Being Heard Today

From Today’s Whipping Post:

H.R. 6842 – National Capital Security and Safety Act (Closed Rule) (Sponsored by Del. Norton / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

The rule provides for 1 hour of general debate and makes in order the following amendment:

Childres Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (60 minutes)

This essentially means Norton’s bill, that would just nicely tell The District that they should really think hard about complying with Heller, will receive a brief polite debate, and promptly be replaced by HR6691, that would actually restore the Second Amendment in The District.  After that, it will go to the house floor for a vote.

There has been some talk in the blogosphere that this effort is just political theater.  Well, in the sense that the chance of getting this all the way through is slim, it is.  But why discount political theater?  Most of the political discourse in Washington that people see is theater.  That’s not to say it can’t be useful.  So why proceed with HR6691 even though there’s little chance of actually passing it?

  • It gets everyone in The House on the record as to whether or not they support Heller.  They can’t just get away with saying “I support the Second Amendment” or “I have a concealed carry permit”.  They have to choose sides.  My Congressman, who runs around shouting the latter quote, despite his support for gun bans, decided he couldn’t afford to oppose HR6691.  That was a useful signal that he’s worried about the gun owner vote coming out against him.
  • The bill will now head to the Senate, where it’s most likely that Harry Reid is going to do everything he can to keep it off the floor to prevent Obama and Biden from having to take a stand on it.
  • We can now put the Blue Dogs, at least one of which has been running around being telling Montana gun owners that Obama has a great record on guns, in the position of getting behind a discharge petition to get it onto the floor no matter what Reid wants to do.  This is the same game that was played in the House.  We might also get to find out whether our own Senator Casey is, in fact, still alive.
  • You never know.  The bill might very well end up passing.  It’s an uphill battle, but it could happen.

So we’re in the position in 2008 where the Democrats really don’t want guns to be an issue.  That’s why Barack Obama has been running around telling everyone he supports the Second Amendment, and won’t take their guns.  We would really like guns to be an issue, because that will rally our base in an election year where people think other things are more important.

We have absolutely nothing to lose by pushing this bill, and everything to gain.  It will force Obama to take a position on Heller that’s more than just lip service.  You can bet he won’t be voting for any discharge petitions, and you can definitely bet he won’t vote for the eventual bill, and that will be one more club we can beat him with.  Is it political theater?  Absolutely.  But good political theater wins elections.

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Bad Choice in Delaware

Another Gun Blog points out that the Democratic candidate for governor this year is about as anti-gun as you can get.  Current Governor Ruth Ann Minner was a pro-gun Democrat, with an A-rating from the National Rifle Association, and who signed into law Delaware’s reciprocity bill.  Things in the First State could take a serious turn for the worse if Jack Markell is elected.

What’s always surprised me about Delaware is that it’s remained a largely pro-gun state, being pretty solidly blue.  Half a million of Delaware’s 864,000 residents are located in Democrat dominated New Castle County.  Things could get ugly in The First State.

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Drum Fed Saiga

This is very cool, but I worry it’s going to prompt ATF to reclassify the Saiga shotguns as destructive devices.  Generally speaking, anything with a barrel diameter over one-half inch is considered a destructive device.  Shotguns are regulated under 27 CFR § 479.11:

any type of weapon by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, the barrel or barrels of which have a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter, except a shotgun or shotgun shell which the Director finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes.

So all it takes is ATF to make a ruling and everyone who owns one either has to register it, or become an instant felon.  There are a lot of Saiga’s out there.

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City’s Proposal for Heller Compliance

The District of Columbia seems to have proposed the following framework for it’s new gun regulations:

The council proposal does not give residents blanket approval to own semiautomatic pistols, which have become the most popular kinds of handguns. It would ban magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. It also would repeal a regulation barring a gun owner from registering more than one pistol. In addition, the legislation would do away with the requirement that handgun registrants submit their weapons to D.C. police for ballistics testing.

This is why we need to get H.R.6691 passed out of Congress.  It’s an uphill battle.  There’s probably little chance the Senate will agree to take it up in an election year, but it’s worthwhile to persue anyway.  It’s always good to have a recent vote that reflects who our friends are, but more importantly which politicians are against us.  My guess is Harry Reid doesn’t force Obama to take a stance here.  But there might be time left for some arm twisting of blue dogs like John Tester from Montana and our own Bob Casey, to get this to the floor and get a vote on it.

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