The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
I got sidetracked in yesterday’s post, since one of the Bangor papers headlines their articles with today’s date, making me think I was reading something current. In truth, Maine’s legislature addressed the Governor’s concerns, and Governor LePage is signing the revised bill today. Maine will become the 6th state to adopt Constitutional Carry. Congratulations Maine!
And the ball keeps rolling.
I’ve suspected for a while that the non-Bloomberg gun control groups had to be in pretty bad shape. Not just because gun control is a losing issue, but because to whatever extent gun control was revived by the President’s exploitation of the Sandy Hook Massacre, most of that benefit has gone to Bloomberg’s organization since everyone else seems to be getting ignored by the media. But to know for sure, we had to wait until the 2013 Form 990s we out. The answer seems to be that everyone in the gun control movement undoubtedly reaped a windfall from the massacre, and their movement’s 501(c)(3) branches continue to do better than they did pre-Sandy Hook.
First, let’s look at the Brady Campaign. In 2012, the Brady Campaign made 4.91 million dollars in revenue, which was up from 2.93 million in 2011. We suspect most of that money poured in during the few weeks after Sandy Hook on December 15, 2012. It was the fight into early 2013 where it became apparent that Bloomberg and the White House were running the gun control agenda, and Brady started falling off everyone’s radar. So it is not surprising that in 2013, the Brady Campaign did not raise as much money as it did in 2012, most of which was probably raised in the first several weeks of that year.
Now for the Brady Center, their 501(c)(3) public charity. It looks to me like they might have shifted their fundraising, and some of their personnel cost over to The Brady Center. The Center didn’t get as much of a windfall in 2012, bringing in 3.82 million versus 2.88 million in 2011. But the Center managed to increase it’s revenue in 2013 to 4.58 million.
I also note that in 2013, salary costs to the Brady Campaign drop by 33%, while the Center’s salary costs increase 31%. I suspect they are shifting more of their personnel costs to the 501(c)(3). Previously, when the Bradys were in really dire straits, it became apparent they were using the Center as a bit of a lifeboat, since the Campaign was nearly out of money. Without a doubt, Sandy Hook saved their asses, and I suspect they are still enjoying some benefit of Obama making gun control cool again.
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence had a similar story to the Bradys. They had raised 333 grand in 2011, and 492 grand in 2012. But again, in 2013, they were down to 484 grand. EFSGV, their 501(c)(3) branch, also tracks the Brady Center. In 2011, 460 grand in revenue, then 638 grand in 2012. In 2013, EFSGV raised 950 grand, almost a million dollars. I guess maybe that foaming at the mouth stuff works! They outperformed the Brady Center in terms of revenue growth.
VPC is largely supported by wealthy foundations, but their revenue was also up in 2013. They managed to boost their public support percentage to 21.50%, which is actually still pretty sad, but better than 2011 when it was 17.28% and 2012, when it was 18.17%. I’m sure they are hoping since their public support is heading in the right direction, the IRS will stay off their backs. They typically have to include a letter explain why it’s so low, and what they are doing to bring it up. They’ve been doing this for a while.
It is without doubt Everytown is now king of the gun control movement, with 2103 revenues of 36 million. Their 2012 revenue was 4.86 when they were MAIG. I’d note that Everytown spends previous little on fundraising, which means most of that money is likely coming from Bloomberg. We all pretty much knew as much. Bloomberg is certainly generous about spreading his organization’s wealth around. Their 2013 990 shows a 47,500 grant to CSGV, 6 grand to CeaseFirePA, 263 thousand to Moms Demand Action, among other groups.
So how does Moms Demand Action look? She raised 890 large in 2013, and we know 30% of that came from Bloomberg through Everytown. She spent a reasonable amount on fundraising. You’ll note in their 990, however, that MDA as a separate entity officially terminated the same year, and merged into Everytown. So Shannon Watts’s operation is entirely Everytown, and not a legal, separate entity. Everytown’s 2014 990s will be very interesting. I doubt MDA was ever really independent from Bloomberg, and the whole thing was a Bloomberg-backed venture from the get go.
So where does that leave things? A gun control movement that probably got most of it’s boost in the weeks after Sandy Hook, but are still largely benefitting from the raised awareness the President and Bloomberg’s money have bought the movement. I would not get despondent over their improved fortunes, however. Why?
Because in 2012, NRA’s revenues went from 219MM to 256MM, and in 2013 they went to $348MM. Get that? Between 2011 and 2013, NRA’s revenue increased by 129MM. That’s more than 3x the amount of every other gun control group’s revenue increase from 2011 to 2013 combined. And that’s just NRA proper. The NRA Foundation went from 29MM to 43MM from 2011 to 2012, then dropping slightly to 41MM in 2013, I suspect because people wanted to donate to the political arm since that’s where the threats were coming from.
The President’s and Bloomberg ginning up of gun control post-Sandy Hook has made NRA much stronger proportionally than the gun control movement. That’s because of people out there like you.
Seattle is proposing taxing guns and ammunition. The tax would be $25 dollars on firearms, and 5 cents on each round of ammunition. This would probably put every dealer within city limits out of business, which is probably the idea. By all rights, this should be unconstitutional, because in the context of other rights, these kinds of taxes have been held as such, but the courts have shown almost no willingness to protect the Second Amendment as anything other than a second class right, subordinate to all the others.
I think Scalia and Thomas’s dissent in denial of cert for Jackson will act as signal to the lower courts that Heller and McDonald are going to be more like Lopez and Morrison; odd, outlying cases rather than landmark rulings which change everything. I hate to be pessimistic, but without change, it’s pretty apparent the Court will not be revisiting the Second Amendment.
That said, I think a pretty good argument could be made in Washington State courts that such a tax violates Washington State’s preemption statute, which has pretty strong language. Surely if a local municipality can’t regulate the sale of firearms and ammunition, it can’t accomplish the same by trying to tax sales out of existence. Washington State also has a RKBA provision, and there’s nothing that prevents Second Amendment claims to be considered by Washington State courts.
Rev. Michael “Snuffy” Pfleger has a problem. He can’t sue gun shops anymore, because they are immune from frivolous lawsuits under PLCAA, and he can’t sue the state or federal government, because they have sovereign immunity. So what’s a radical gun hating Catholic priest to do? Well, sue the town the gun shops are in, of course, under the theory they aren’t keeping a close enough eye on what’s going on in their towns. Our opponents have done very well in the courts, largely because the legal establishment doesn’t think too much of the Second Amendment. I can’t think of any better way of helping change that than by repeated filing of frivolous lawsuits that simple waste the generally very limited time of judges and the court system.
Bernie Sanders, the socialist candidate for the Democratic Nomination who’s been eating Hillary’s lunch, is a moderate on guns. He’s not as pro-gun as we would like him to be, but by the standards of the modern Democratic Party, he’s much better on our issue than anyone else in the Democratic field, save maybe Jim Webb (who doesn’t have a chance). Bernie says, “I think I can bring us to the middle.†One group that’s having none of that are the mouth foamers over at CSGV, having a conniption over the idea that they shouldn’t be allowed to file frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers. Sanders’ says:
Now, the issues that you’re talking about is, if somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer, and that murderer kills somebody with the gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible? Not anymore than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beat somebody over the head with a hammer. That is not what a lawsuit should be about.
CSGV is upset because Sanders just exposed to everyone, on the left I might add, how utterly ridiculous and radical groups like CSGV, Brady, and Everytown have become. Even the socialist can’t buy into their “common sense,” and certainly isn’t helping them perpetuate their deception. To make matters even worse for CSGV, you have outfits like MSNBC saying, “Overall, I’m generally skeptical that gun policy represents a real threat to Sanders’ support from the left.” Could that be because, as we’ve been arguing all along, that no one on the left really cares all that much about gun control?
I’d never vote for Bernie Sanders, but I admire his being up front and honest about his values. At least I know what I’m dealing with. He’s not an empty suit floated on behalf of bomb throwing radicals, trying to sell himself as some sort of moderate by reading a mean speech off a teleprompter. I hope he gives Hillary a run for her money.
Governor Hassan has vetoed the Constitutional Carry bill that was passed by the New Hampshire legislature. It’s worth nothing that Constitutional Carry in Maine is still awaiting the signature of Governor LePage, who is now saying he won’t sign it because the age is 21 rather than 18. I can’t find fault with the Governor’s reasoning, but I have to wonder if this is a game, because LePage has been saying he won’t sign anything until the legislature repeals the income tax. This being a way to live up to his promise, while appearing to be more pro-gun than thou.
I’d call his bluff and pass one that’s allows carry for those 18 and older, but I don’t know if we’d still have enough votes. Perhaps we can get this overridden? They’ve certainly been willing to do it for other bills. Constitutional Carry is a difficult issue. It’s been harder to get these bills done and made into law. It’s only going to be continued pressure from our people that will help get this done.
You remember how Trinity Wall Street church sued Wal-Mart over their selling of AR-15s? The church is a shareholder in Wal-Mart, and they tried to get a proxy ballot put in place that would allow shareholders to vote on whether to tell the Board of Directors to implement standards for gun sales. They had won in district court, but the Third Circuit Court of appeals overturned that decision, arguing that the shareholders were trying to inject themselves directly into Wal-Mart’s business operations, and federal law permits the company to reject attempts to do that. Needless to say, this is good news. If this had been permitted, it would create a template by which anti-gun people could attack all the large FFLs. This ruling is limited to the Third Circuit, but since the Third Circuit encompasses Delaware, and a very large number of businesses incorporate there, this will cover most big companies they might try this with.
Things aren’t going to well for the Brady Center to Cling to Relevance either. A judge has rebuked their complaint against a local FFL, and told them they had 20 days to amend their lawsuit to remove what the judge said “pushes a social agenda†and has nothing to do with the suit. They are not off to a very good start, making a poor impression with the judge.
A few weeks ago I mentioned I was working on a home brew setup to act as a fermentation chamber, and a few people asked for updates, so here’s one. Typically a fermentation chamber is done with a deep freeze or dorm refrigerator using a separate thermostat for temperature control. The gold standard for dorm fridge setups was the Sayno 4912, which sadly has been discontinued, and are now difficult to come by. I’m lucky enough to have one, but it is currently set up as a kegerator. While the 4912 will take a full 6.5 gallon carboy, and works great as a fermentation chamber, as long as I’m using it for fermentation I’m not using it to keep beer on tap, and I consider that to be a big problem.
I had expressed skepticism a while back about getting a fair story out of NBC on guns, but despite Newsbusters pooh-poohing piece, I find no fault with how any of the participants handled Farrow’s jabs:
The end result, I think, is a pretty fair piece. I think it’s clear from the lines of questioning, they would have exploited any opportunities here, but the interviewees didn’t give them much to work with.
I’m very torn on the value of speaking to media. With rare exceptions, I’ve ignored media inquires unless the person contacting me is someone known to be fair. But the other side of the coin is getting our message out there.
Pretty clearly I need to do a better job of keeping this feature a weekly one, or I’m going to have to change it to biweekly gun news. So what gun news is there? Let’s clean out the tabs!
A reasonably balanced article in Jezebel about moms and guns.
NRA directly addresses the impact of Obergefell on concealed carry reciprocity. I really hope no one ends up going to jail because they believed this.
CNN’s Lynne Russell: “If you don’t want to carry please don’t. Then, shut the f–k up about it. Make your own decisions.” Good for her. Minding other people’s business has become an epidemic in this country.
Are school shootings contagious? We in the gun blogosphere have been saying for a while that the media attention the killers get are the prime mover for mass slayings. Not that they should, but no one will speak of restricting the media from glorifying the killer, because of the First Amendment. A shame the Second doesn’t draw as much respect.
NRA a hate group? Yes, says gun control group.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy is trying to shut down the nation’s largest FFL, arguing that Walmart can’t possibly sell guns responsibility. Remember folks, they aren’t after your guns, only trying to ensure you don’t have anywhere to buy one. Common sense gun laws!
Of course, the gun ban lobby, much like our President, is lately enamored with Australia’s gun laws, which conducted a forced confiscation.
Positive coverage of the gun issue in…. the Boston Globe?
Chris Christie is trying very hard to ease his problems with gun owners, but he’s got a few other bills he’ll be expected to veto coming up. I just don’t see how he’s going to get through the primaries as a blue state Republican governor. But then again, I never would have expected Donald Trump to jump into the number two slot, ever.
Leland Yee takes a plea deal on racketeering charges.
Top three contenders for the XM17 modular handgun program.
Remember, gun control groups claim that guns are less regulated than teddy bears.
There is an effort in New Jersey to recall Stephen Sweeney. As a wise man once said: punch back twice as hard.
Hey, Uber, how’s that anti-gun policy working out for ya?
Off Topic:
Greeks vote for free money to fall from the skies. Eventually socialism runs out of other people’s money. The Germans have snatched back their credit card and probably aren’t giving it back. This will not end well. Take a hard look though, because this will be us eventually, if things don’t change. It’s already partly here.
On that George Takai thing calling Justice Thomas a “clown in blackface,” I couldn’t agree more with Ace. I was surprised he apologized. Who was going to force that? Certainly not the media, and certainly not the Social Justice Warriors.
