Sebastian – Page 252 – Shall Not Be Questioned

“Confiscate, Confiscate, Confiscate”

From ANJRPC. I’m forced to swipe their whole release because they don’t provide links:

NJ SENATORSâ€™ TRUE VIEW OF GUN OWNERS REVEALED BY HOT MICROPHONE FOLLOWING YESTERDAYâ€™S HEARINGÂ

Call the Senate Majority Office Immediately to Express Your Outrage

And Demand That Mondayâ€™s Bill Package be Held Â Â

An astute person listening to the official audio recording of yesterdayâ€™s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing noticed that the official recording continued following conclusion of the hearing.Â The discussion that was caught, apparently among several senators and staff, is outrageous, and reveals legislatorsâ€™ true view of gun owners.

A YouTube video with an excerpt of that recording has beenÂ posted here.Â The following lines can be heard in the recording:

“We needed a bill that was going to confiscate, confiscate, confiscate.â€

“They [gun owners] want to keep the guns out of the hands of the bad guys, but they donâ€™t have any regulations to do it.â€

“They donâ€™t care about the bad guys.Â All they want to do is have their little guns and do whatever they want with them.â€

“Thatâ€™s the line theyâ€™ve developed.â€Â

The discussion appears to be amongÂ Senator Loretta WeinbergÂ (D37),Â Senator Sandra CunninghamÂ (D31),Â Senator Linda Greenstein(D14), and at least one member of Senate Democratic staff.

This discussion can also clearly be heard at the end of the official audio recording, beginning at 1:52:30,Â currentlyÂ available hereÂ (find Thursday, May 9 from the menu, then click “listenâ€). It is possible that the official recording will be sanitized following release of this alert, and the official YouTube video could be deleted, so be sure to listen to it promptly.

The discussion reveals absolute contempt for the Second Amendment and those who exercise it, as well as complete ignorance of the fact that gun rights organizations like ANJRPC have long advocated for clear and specific legislation punishing criminals who misuse firearms, instead of misguided legislation (like the bills currently being pushed by Senate Democrats) that demonizes hardware.Â Senator Loretta Weinberg is the chief proponent of the anti-gun legislation being moved through the Senate.

In advance of Mondayâ€™s full Senate floor vote, please immediately call AND fax the Senate Majority Office, tell them you are outraged by the misguided, disparaging, and clueless comments of those pushing the anti-gun bill package, and demand that Senate Democratic leadership hold the entire package of anti-gun bills currently scheduled for consideration by the full Senate on Monday, May 13.

SENATE MAJORITY OFFICE

Phone: 609-847-3700

Fax: 609-633-7254

You know what would help prevent gun owners from always being paranoid that gun control activists and politicians were after their guns? Not actually being after our guns. Just because your paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.

Just like the Encryption Fights

Those of you who were around tech circles in the 90s probably remember this t-shirt. See more background on that fight here. Well, it would seem that history repeats itself. What’s even more ironic is that some of the folks involved in the cryptography struggle are now involved in the gun rights battle too.

When you really boil it down, gun control is a form of information control, in that the knowledge of firearms has been with man for more than 500 years. You could confiscate every gun on the planet tomorrow, and mankind would just make more, because we have the knowledge to do so. You could only eradicate guns by eradicating the information that goes into making them, and that’s difficult if not impossible to do.

What 3D printing and CNC has accomplished is to make the link between information and firearms much more direct. With ITAR getting involved in trying to stop the spread of the plans, it’s hard to argue we aren’t in a world where guns and information aren’t roughly the same thing. It’s readily apparent in human history that information control is perhaps one of the greatest follies practiced by rulers and governments, and that’s now what gun control essentially is becoming.

Can MAIG Mayors Keep Their Pants On?

I don’t think it’s too much to ask, but apparently it is for Mayor Healey of Jersey City, New Jersey, a founding member of MAIG. This was a controversy back in the 2004 race, when a photo of him naked on his porch surfaced. He said he got a little too drunk, and didn’t remember how he got on his porch. Apparently now the story is changing:

Healy gave a fresh, and notably more bizarre, account in an interview with the Star-Ledger in which he claimed he had actually been drawn outside that night by a group of noisy Hispanic girls — who proceeded to rip off the towel he was wearing and do “filthy” things.

Well, OK then. It could probably be argued Healy’s problems are really nothing new, and that he is likely, as a founding member of MAIG, to be the original illegal mayor. But I thought this bizarre new twist on how he ended up naked on his porch was worth a mention.

The Texas “Nullifcation” Law

Jonathan Adler points out that the Texas law is not nullification at all, because all it does is prevent state officials from enforcing any federal gun laws passed after a certain date. A lot of states, including Pennsylvania (HB 357), have bills proposed that would make even the federal government enforcing federal laws subject to criminal sanctions. This would not hold up in Court in our current legal system, so Texas decided not to go that far.

In reality, if state officials can’t enforce federal law, for all practical purposes, enforcement would be impossible. The most likely scenario you’d likely be found to be violating the law would be at a traffic stop, and traffic laws are state laws. While it would not be “nullification” as we generally think of it, preventing state authorities from enforcing a federal law, for most practical purposes, renders that law null. There simply aren’t enough federal agents to enforce any law without the aid of state and local authorities.

I tend to think the current circumstances call for what Texas is doing, rather than what is being proposed in Pennsylvania. A real nullification bill might be warranted if gun bans are on the table, and state authorities, and state courts, are willing to go along with the whole idea, but I feel confident enough in how badly we beat the gun and magazine bans, and I have no faith that the state authorities or state courts would go along with any nullification scheme, especially under current circumstances.

Open Carry March in DC

When I first heard someone was planning an open carry march in DC, in an act of civil disobedience, my first thought was that it would not end well. This blogger does an excellent job pointing out some misconceptionsÂ about where the border between Virginia and DC actually is. I tend to think if there aren’t thousands of people willing to do this, the end result is just going to be everyone getting carted off to jail. Even with thousands, the end result might only end up being that the police blockade the bridge, and force everyone to turn back. I’m not against civil disobedience, per se, but it should have some purpose. I tend to think we’ll be able to fix the carry issue in DC at some point, without whatever “help” we’ll get from the media coverage of this event that’s bound to be spun against us.

Still Setting Records

John Richardson notes that this is the 35th record setting month when it comes to NICS transactions. Kevin Baker takes on the notion of declining gun ownership. I think what you’ve seen, in terms of polling, is that fewer people are willing to answer whether there’s a gun in the home. Years ago, it was nothing to be ashamed about, however now many people feel differently, or don’t want to answer because it’s just not anyone else’s business. There’s just no way, with all the anecdotal evidence we have, we’re not increasing actual ownership.

Who’s Buying Colorado?

Mayor Bloomberg, it seemsÂ (link fixed, sorry about that):

The group that is organizing to defend Senate President John Morse is semi-humorously named â€œA Whole Lot of People For John Morse.â€

Wanna guess which of the whole lotta people who like John Morse like him most?

Three wordsâ€¦Mayor. Bloom. Berg.

Read the whole report. Are Coloradans going to be OK with Mayor Bloomberg buying their legislature? I guess we’ll find out in 2014.

Hate Mail is Fun

We don’t often get hate mail. Actually, this is probably the first piece of hate mail I’ve ever received. This one actually comes to us courtesy of a manager at a major consumer products company in New Jersey:

From: Mr. Hater
To: Sebastian
Subject: Guns for Kids

HI:

A big â€œHiâ€ from NJ. I was hoping you could help me. I need a gun for my 4 year old and canâ€™t find a â€œwhere to buy guideâ€ on Cricketâ€™s web site. He really wants a gun and I figure it is his right to own one (and kill his sister – by mistake of course ) when we leave the gun loaded in the house ( or the double wide ) and then just leave â€œfor a minuteâ€. And the â€œparentsâ€ say â€“ oh what a horrible accident.

I can only hope your family goes through the same trauma as mine and maybe you will change your opinion on this matter. Guns are for losers â€“ and you my friend fit this description very nicely. No increased background checksâ€¦ No limit on the number of bullets in the gun â€“ no nothingâ€¦ You want to take over the government? Just try â€“ the US armed forces will kick your ass. Just a hint â€“ it is no longer the 1700â€™s â€“ it is 2013. Get it â€¦

Have a nice day,

Mr. Hater
Born and raised in NJ and Dam proud of it.

Let me just offer a piece of advice on hate mailin’. If you’re going to hate mail someone, don’t do it from your work e-mail and use your real name. I have redacted the name and employer, because I’m a softy, and don’t want to see anyone get in hot water or lose their job over what could have been a moment of poor judgement after hitting the sauce particularly hard.

There is no family trauma that would change my mind on this matter, because I don’t make a habit of placing blame on inanimate objects for bad things that happen. If a loved one were killed by a drunk driver, would you still drive? Would you abstain from all alcohol? If it were my negligence, I would blame myself. I might question whether I’m really responsible enough to own a gun. But I certainly wouldn’t blame the rest of you, and advocate for taking your guns.

TheÂ deodandÂ is certainly alive and well in our society, isn’t it? This kind of ancient and mystical thinking comes from someone who has the nerve to be condescending to the rest of us. The other side keeps wondering why there can be no dialog. This is why. I have nothing to say to a person like this. Nothing. The only thing we can do is work to politically destroy them to the greatest extent we are capable.

With Friends Like This …

We noticed SAF/CCRBKA’s booth on the NRA floor, but decided not to stop. But Think Progress did, and noticed they were handing out literature taking NRA to task over Manchin-Toomey:

But despite the billâ€™s (perhaps temporary) defeat in the Senate, CCRKBA doesnâ€™t appear to be backing down â€”Â The Gun Mag, a Second Amendment Foundation publication, published an â€œNRA Meeting Special Issueâ€ whose lead article takes apart the NRAâ€™s line on Manchin-Toomey.

So it would seem that SAF/CCRKBA is doing their level best to help revive this bill, along with the Democratic leadership in the Senate. We’ve already started to see Jeff Flake go soft, and there’s rumors about Ayotte. I think both of them are hoping this issue goes away. But not, apparently, if Alan Gottlieb has his way.

If we end up losing on this, and there’s a good chance we will, you can lay the blame squarely at their feet on this one. I have been reluctant to be truly harsh to Alan Gottlieb’s organizations because I understand that lobbying is not a black and white game, and sometimes you get forced into concessions, or make a bad call. But the Manchin-Toomey deal is dead, and we should all be on the same page in trying to keep it dead, and CCRKBA/SAF are not on that page. We do not need this while the Dems, the White House, and Bloomberg are busy twisting arms to try to reanimate Manchin-Toomey.

This has forced me to take the unfortunate step of removing SAF from my side links. As long as they are still trying to make a case for Manchin-Toomey, I will not help promote them.

NRA Annual Meeting Roundup

I thought I’d add some coverage from fellow bloggers who attended, and some who didn’t attend but blogged about the meeting, nonetheless.

I missed this protester. What she calls loopholes, other people call freedom.

The gun control activists are stoked. You’ll notice that there was more interest in the protesters than guns on the floor. Actually, there wasn’t much new this year. I don’t think manufacturers want to introduce new products in the midst of all this madness. Kevin also notes that we’re a different species to them.

From Jennifer: Things I learned at the NRA convention. She also has some coverage of the protest.

Joe notes that Connecticut Senator Blumenthal thinks we had nothing to celebrate in Houston. Joe didn’t make it this year because he was busy with Boomershoot.

Great Satan Inc has more protest coverage.

Rob Pincus made quite a stir suggesting folks keep locked and secured guns in the kids bedrooms. But an anti-gun activist stating in front of reporters that he keeps an unsecured shotgun under the bed with kids in the house didn’t raise any ire at all. Maybe because no one believes any of these people actually are gun owners.

A magic Magpul bus.

Random thoughts on the NRA Annual Meeting from John Richardson.

More wrap up from Old NFO.

JayG has an after action review. He also participated in a story Buzzfeed was working on at the convention.

Overheard at the Annual Meeting. I’d have been impressed if they could deliver a T&A product.