Sebastian – Page 194 – Shall Not Be Questioned

NJ Trooper on Christie Security Detail Arrested in Hamburg, PA

Apparently he stands accused of kleptoing himself about $267 bucks worth of shooting supplies from Caleba’s. But get this:

â€œCarvounis said he was on the governorâ€™s security detail,â€ Tilden Township Police Chief William J. McEllroy told New Jersey Watchdog. â€œHe said he makes $140,000 a year, and heâ€™s afraid of losing his job.â€

140 large a year? I’m in the wrong line of work!Â I’d say he likely has a compulsion he could use some help with. Apparently he tried to get someÂ â€œprofessional courtesyâ€ out of the local constabulary, but to their credit they didn’t take him up on it. I’d be OK withÂ ARDing him if he gets some help with his problem, though.

Amnesty Light

I’ll be honest, I’d personally be fine compromise in theory, but I suspect it’s bad politics for the GOP:

â€œIllegal immigrants, assuming they have lived here for a decent period of time and have not committed a felony, can have amnesty, but they can NEVER be allowed to vote. They can do anything else that is legal, but if they want to vote â€” or run for office or practice law in our country, as just happened in California â€” they must return home and go through the normal immigrant application process, however long that may take until they have citizenship.â€

I’ve posted on this before. Most of the arguments against this idea were the slippery slope, namely if we give them a limited amnesty now, they’ll just vote in a full one next chance they get. I believe in slippery slopes, and agree it’s no fallacy. Gun control is absolutely a slippery slope. Here’s what I look at:

Is the interest pushing for half the cake now in hopes of getting the whole cake later. Well, the Democrats certainly want them to have the vote, because they want a more solid majority, but it’s less clear the Hispanic community honestly cares all that much about the vote, and polling also shows they care about border security too. The political elites and activists are likely to keep pushing for the vote, so I think this plays in favor of the slippery slope.
Does the half cake strengthen our opponents hand any, or make their arguments better? I don’t really think this changes the rhetoric at all. In contrast to say, accepting the NICS system under Brady, which I think weakened our hand in arguing that expansion is a bad idea. I’m not sure this plays as well with the slippery slope. If anything, I think this would weaken their hand to the near future.
Does the half cake take people out of the issue in terms of fighting further encroachments. Absolutely. I think a lot of people will walk away from the GOP if they push through a half-cake amnesty bill. This would make it much easier for the Democrats to pass the rest of the cake when they get back into power.

So while I think the deal, in theory at least, would be acceptable to me, I think it would only contribute to the further destruction of the GOP at the cost of the Democrats winning several more election cycles. I’m not convinced anyway, that amnesty is the key to winning the latino vote. I think Republicans are pushing for limited amnesty largely because business interests want it, and because they have K street consulting firms whispering in their ear that this will allow them to win the latino vote.

Shannon Watts v. Dana Loesch

There’s just something about attractive women who favor gun rights that gets our opponents in a hand-wringing tizzy. From the moment it was announced that Dana Loesch was going to be on The View, the madness began.Â Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action and the Coalition to Stop Gun ~~Violence~~ Ownership libel Dana Loesch, by suggesting she’s a spokeswoman for Magpul, when she is not. They had better be careful. I know they are used to repeatedly spewing untruths without getting called on it, but eventually they’re going to libel someone who isn’t afraid to file suit and will revel in the media circling the wagons to defend one of their own.

Shannon has been going nuts trying to prevent The View from hosting Dana, and I can’t really blame her. Their issue lives and dies by being able to maintain an insulated media bubble where they can build their false caricatures of the gun culture unchallenged by viewpoints and arguments which could call their caricature into question. Dana Loesch’s appearance on The View is a clear and present threat to their ability to maintain that bubble.

Monday News Links

I woke up early today, took a look outside, and went back to bed. It was really coming down, and what’s worse, it’s the wet stuff; the kind of snow so heavy, you might as well be shoveling dead beavers off the driveway. All the previous snow was well on its way to melting away yesterday, but today it’s back with a vengeance. The office is closed today, but since this is one of my work from home days, it doesn’t really matter. Here’s some news links:

About the Super Bowl ad you didn’t see last night. The NFL is anti-gun folks. Hate to tell ya. Every time you watch the NFL, God shreds a vintage 1911.

I say any “conservative leader” who supports putting Sudafed behind a prescription wall gets themselves a primary challenger who knows their place.

A CSGV supporting politician goes to jail for domestic violence.

Someone tried to do a FOIA request of some of the 4473s sitting in an ATF warehouse in West Virginia and were denied. Good. I generally support transparent government, but not when it’s requesting information it really has no business asking about in the first place.

Uncle doesn’t think MDA’s Nashville chapter is going to last long. I’m going to guess that’s already a pretty small meeting.

The problems of early voting. Because being an informed voter takes some time, I think the easier and more convenient we make voting, the more people will be casting completely uninformed ballots. I am against early voting.

More gun laws in Massachusetts? They didn’t do much after Sandy Hook. It’s hard to say whether this is serious or just hot air from a windbag, but something to keep and eye on.

Derp still sells.

Dana Loesch takes on ABC’s “Young Guns.” Fortunately for us, the network news organizations have far far less influence than they used to. One of the great social advances of the past couple of decades is that more and more people seem to understand our media is full of crap. I’ll have more to say about Dana Loesch later.

Percentage who think our gun laws are too strict triples. That’s very good news. Those of us who believe we could use a lot less gun control have generally been a small minority. What I’m hoping is that a lot of these new gun owners have learned what the laws are, and they are pissed.

The weaponization of government. This was my biggest concern about electing a President from Chicago. This is how things are done there. Here’s an example on guns, for instance.

“Irish Democracy” at work in Colorado.

No one will want to take point.

Yes, let the hand wringing continue in Chicago.

Why would students on campus possibly need guns for self-defense?

Why We Need to Make More Progress Behind the Lines

Because the political elites in Chicago should have to read stories like this. They need to read stories like this:

Vernon has been a firearm owner and activist for decades, but he doesn’t fit the stereotype of a gun nut. He’s a middle-class African-American who lives on Chicago’s south side. A former university administrator, he’s studied civil rights history for decades. A framed photo of Malcolm X hangs in the living room of his modest home. He voted against Mitt Romney in the last presidential electionâ€”though he can’t quite bring himself to admit that he cast a ballot for President Obama.

Vernon is also a member of the NRA, mostly because the organization offers top-notch training and certification courses used by federal law enforcement agencies. But he admits to some mixed feelings. “The only thing we agreed on was guns,” he says of the NRA. On the issue of gun-ownership rights, “I’m on the same side as a lot of people who are very conservative and certainly would be considered right of center.”

There’s really nothing remarkable about the firing line pictured in the article, as they look like most gun folk to me, save their color of skin not fitting the typical progressive narrative of rural, fat, middle-aged white guys

This is everyone’s right. It belongs to all of us. That has to be our motivating force in moving the ball forward. The Second Amendment should be no different in Chicago than Cheyenne, and the court wins have succeeded in making Chicago a little more like Cheyenne. We haven’t gone far enough, but just four years ago, Chicago progressives could rest happy in their own insulated media bubble, and never have to read articles like this that challenged their preconceived notions. The fact that they now do is what I call progress!

The Volokh Experiment with WaPo More Pleasing Than I Thought

I’m rather enjoying reading the comments to Professor Johnson’s guest blogs over at The Volokh’s new home, which is warming me up to their experiment with the Washington Post. Here are his posts:

Some of my favorite comments:

“Most black people that I know are pro gun control, but I would imagine that we have black gun nuts in this country. The overwhelming majority of gun nuts are white. If we banned guns completely or restricted them to single shot long guns only, some black gun nuts would not like it, but I think that the overwhelming majority of blacks would be gracious, and very supportive of such an effort.”

You can almost hear the neural circuit breakers tripping on that one.

“The stories recounted here are part of the reason I perceive (1) a constitutional right to possess a reasonable firearm for self-defense in the home and (2) the merit of careful regulation of firearms.”

Followed by a bunch of people challenging the commenter to define “reasonable firearm,” and who gets to decide.

“Although I tend to favor more control of firearms than most folks here, I must say that I have no objection to any law-abiding, mentally-competent person, black or white, owning anything in the Winchester catalog.”

Time for Winchester to make an AR-15? The lever action was the assault weapon of its age. It even holds more than ten rounds. It’s not certain that all of the folks aren’t previous readers, but it’s good for the WaPo audience to be exposed to these ideas, and in a context that totally defies their prejudices and stereotypes about the topic. We don’t have enough of that in our current public discourse.

What Happened to Colin Goddard?

Joe Huffman asks the question:Â what happened to Colin Goddard, The darling of the Brady Campaign? Â Good question. Taking a look myself, I notice his dad has been in the news more than he has. I think the biggest question is what happened to the Brady Campaign? It’s pretty obvious that there was some major turmoil over there, with several key long time people no longer working for the organization. While Colin still says he’s working for Brady, we don’t really know what happened, exactly, in that shake-up. I’ve been singularly unimpressed with Brady’s new leadership, even looking at it objectively.

Post Newtown, the face of gun control became Mayor Bloomberg and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and Shannon Watts, of Moms Demand Action. The Bradys were second fiddle, which is representative of the fact that we know from the MAIG emails that they were attempting to snatch the limelight from BloombergÂ on celebrity PSAs. I’d actually argue that Brady was smart for attempting to use one of its core strengths (celebrity relations) to snatch the narrative back from MAIG, but it seems clear someone decided they needed to be a junior partner in all this. So I don’t think it’s clear whether Colin was a victim of the massive shake-up at the Brady organization, or whether he’s just not on the media speed dial anymore when they are looking for a quote.

I suspect that Colin, much like the organization he aligned himself with, is yesterday’s news. Why would they want a 20-something guy man whose tragedy is now seven years in the past to be the face of this issue when they have dead elementary school children and their grieving families to use? Why call Colin or Dan when one of the Demanding Moms can give you a juicier quote? Even Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has had better game lately, if you go by press attention.

It’s hard for me to see how the Brady organization survives long term, especially given that Bloomberg is throwing his money and organization behind Shannon Watts. It’ll be very interesting to see their form 990s in a couple of years, so see what their finances are doing. I have no doubt that someone will probably step up to keep some skeleton of Brady afloat, lest the news cycle begin to speak about the death of gun control, but it will be an organization severely diminished in stature and effectiveness from its glory days in the 1990s as Handgun Control, Inc.

Destruction of History

The British demonstrate what gun control is meant to do: turning ordinarily law-abiding people who are no threat to anyone into dangerous felons.

A Conservative former mayor and veteran army reservist has been dramatically arrested in an early-morning police raid and charged with owning a live 70-year-old Nazi wartime gun.

Officers with search dogs swooped on the home of Councillor Jonathan Farmer, 56, of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, and seized a German Walther PPK pistol dating back to the Second World War.

Police said they were acting on a tip-off and had a warrant to search his home for firearms. He will appear in court next Monday and could face a five-year jail sentence if found guilty.

I can’t for a minute imaging this is the only bring back pistol hiding out in some drawer or attic in the UK. If my grandfather had brought a pistol back from the war, there’s no law in the world that would make me part with it. I’d gladly risk jail time to preserve not only that piece of family history, but of the country’s history. But this is where the madness of the other side leads.

Thursday News Links

Happy Thursday, almost Friday. Where did the week go? The news cycle on guns is pretty slow this week, but here’s some news:

The depressing thing about this, is that these people vote.

How the NSA bulk data seizure program is like gun registration.

Private Citizens stop 16% of mass shootings.

How to make and reload wax bullets. I think I owe Miguel the hat tip for this one, but not sure.

A reversal of fortune for gun grabbers. Well, this is why they switched to politically incorrect long guns. At one time it was a small base of shooters, so it made an easier target.

Armed citizenry? Bah, who needs it in the 21st century. Antiquated idea that is!</sarcasm>

The .gov ruined this man’s life and arguably sent him to an early grave. I’m glad to see people still spreading the story. Your government lies. It is not trustworthy or reliable, and when one finds oneself on a jury, that bias should be firmly entrenched. The media are even bigger liars.

Maryland lawmakers are talking more gun laws after a mass shooter followed Joe Biden’s advice and got himself a shotgun.

This has to be awkward for the Obama Administration.

This has to be disappointing for Mom’s Demand Action.

A wood AR-15 lower. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. The only problem with wood as a material is that it can splinter along its grain, and it has a tendency to expand and contract with heat and moisture. So while I think this would work, I think it will tend to unreliability. Why use wood when there are polymers just as easy to machine?

What stupid laws look like.

Never get out of the boat.

Meet the Black Talon of the 21st Century.

Connecticut GOP Primary Shapes Up

Also from the Wall Street Journal. One of the candidates is the Mayor of Danbury, who is a MAIG Mayor. Some of the other guys are willing to run against the new gun control laws. No matter what the outcome of the general election, gun owners in Connecticut need to make sure the gun control supporting Republicans get squashed like bugs in the primary, especially if they were members of MAIG. MAIG membership needs to become toxic for those seeking higher public office.