The ATF has issued a response to the public comments it received on their original 2011 guidance on the importability of shotguns. Their response is best summed up thusly:
Author: Sebastian
Knife Preemption Introduced in Pennsylvania
The folks at Knife Rights have managed to get a bill introduced. The bill would also remove automatic knives from Pennsylvania’s list of prohibited offensive weapons. Knife preemption is something we badly need in Pennsylvania, especially for people who regularly travel into Philadelphia. I welcome this progress, even if it’s going to be a long road ahead to even get this bill a hearing.
The United States Ambassador to UN Addresses ATT Conference
The Arms Trade Treaty should not in any way handicap the legitimate right of self-defense. Acting together, we can strengthen international peace and security and the rule of law by requiring universal establishment of responsible national standards for the arms trade.
[…]
Moreover, we must acknowledge and respect that this negotiation is not an attempt to intrude, either in principle or process, into states’ internal activities, laws, or practices concerning the domestic possession, use, or movement of arms. Rather, this treaty will regulate only the international arms trade. Any attempt to include provisions in the treaty that would interfere with each state’s sovereign control over the domestic use or movement of arms is clearly outside the scope of our mandate.
And interesting question will be, if the treaty draft does indeed come out to not affect civilian arms, and Obama gives the treaty his endorsement, how does that affect this as an election issue? The other issue is that once the treaty is established, the anti-gun NGOs will be pushing to expand the scope of the treaty.
Largest Growing Demographic of Concealed Carry Holders in Texas
Black women. The tears of our opponents are sweet and satisfying.
We Need an Antibiotic Prize
It’s rare that I call for government intervention, but because government already raises the cost of drug development to such stratospheric heights, if they don’t do something to encourage new antimicrobial drugs to be developed, we’re going to be very very screwed. By the time this rises to the level of a real crisis (e.g. when there are enough sick people dying of diseases that haven’t been lethal for years) it’ll already be too late, and you’ll be waiting a decade or more before any effort started at the point of a crisis come to fruition.
The problem is this: new antibiotics are difficult to find, and any new antibiotic that would hit the market is practically guaranteed to be held in reserve for infections that can’t be treated by current antibiotics. The market will tend to be small. Because of these market realities, there have only been two novel classes of antibiotics produced in the past 40 years.
I would suggest a prize of sufficient size to guarantee a hefty return on investment to any research team or company that can successfully bring a new class of antibiotic to market, and that has a reasonable safety and pharmacological profile. For libertarians that are uncomfortable with government involvement with the market, you can justify it with the fact that antimicrobials are a critical component of our war fighting capacity as a nation. There’s definitely a military justification to spawn new development. The fact is that without some kind of incentive, new antibiotics just are not going to be developed, and I don’t think you’ll have any luck convincing the American people to drop the FDA requirements that raise the barriers for new drugs entering the market. A prize is the most efficient way to deal with this kind of problem.
ATF Using Bogus Brady Campaign Statistics
This is often a problem when we have unfriendly administrations in the White House. The ATF has maintained a sometimes cozy relationship with the anti-gun movement, which hasn’t exactly helped ATF achieve its mission. In order for ATF to be effective, they can’t be seen as working with the enemies of firearm freedom, and the fact that they often are, is what destroys their credibility with our community, and our cooperation is necessary for that mission to be fulfilled.
SB249 Opposition Heating Up
The heat in the kitchen must be getting rather high if Leland Yee is playing the race card. I have no doubt that Yee is getting some racist nastiness, because like any large and diverse group of people, some of us are assholes. But to represent all the opposition in this manner is as wrong and uncalled for as the people suggesting Senator Yee, who is as American as you or I, should “go back to Communist China.” It lowers the debate to the gutter and dismisses the legitimate concern many of us have for preserving the Bill of Rights and the Constitutional rights of all Americans, including Californians. We should aspire to more than the gutter, and so should Senator Yee. Even the Brady Campaign is turning on the legislation, suggesting this isn’t the proper way to go about things. They are pressuring the Attorney General to change the law through regulation, and are threatening a lawsuit over it.
I find the Brady Campaign’s position interesting, and I’m debating what their strategic thinking is, if they have any. If I had to theorize, they are largely out of the legislation business, since everything seems to be happening under the auspices of the Brady Center, the 501(c)(3), these days. Litigation is something they can fund, and a quick letter and a few meetings with a friendly Attorney General could accomplish the same goal as legislation without engaging in a knock-down drag out fight with our grassroots in a big legislative battle. California may have a very anti-gun legislature, but I think we can still cause headaches for them there, and they’d rather do this easily, and without risking their 501(c)(3) status.
Sen. Casey Looking to Ruin Cough Syrup, Just Like Sudafed
Story at Capitol Ideas. I’d get all “This is why we need to boot Casey out on his ass in November,” but I’m afraid both parties love themselves some good warring on drugs, and that goes double if it’s For the ChildrenTM.
Road Raging Medieval Style
Apparently there was a road rage incident in Philadelphia, where the road raging driver threatened another motorist with a crossbow. Of course, normally I’d point out that you can find a lot of ways to harm others without using a firearm, but I’ve come to the conclusion that our opponents would have little issue restricting anything sharp, pointy, or that you could hurt yourself or others with. I don’t want to give them a new mission.
On the Lack of Scientists
The Higher Education bubble is a persistent theme over at Instapundit, and I thought an observation he made about the constant yammering about the need for scientists among politicians is pretty spot on:
I was talking with someone the other day who advanced the proposition that there are probably only 50 really first-rate scientific minds produced in the United States every year. And then came the question: Does the current system of training and funding scientists encourage those 50 to stay in the game, or to find something else to do?
Original post here. At my previous small pharma company that went under a year ago, I was one of the highest paid employees that wasn’t in executive management. The typical person in my field has a bachelors degree, or usually at most a master’s degree. I hold a B.S. in Computer Engineering. Many of the people making less than me held a Ph.D. in Chemistry or Biology. If we were truly short on this skill, the market would pay these people more. As it is, the pharmaceutical industry has a glut of scientists. Many of the people I’ve worked with have not found new permanent employment, and those that have took pay cuts.
The problem is, as Professor Reynolds mentions, that many scientists just have the wrong skills. Just because you have a Ph.D. doesn’t make you any more immune to marketplace changes than anyone else. The fact is that bench chemistry is something easily outsourced to places like China and India, where labs can be run for a fraction of the cost they can be run here. Also, not all bench chemistry requires an advanced degree. The people I know who are still employed, and who improved their lot in terms of career, were experienced medicinal chemists who were very good at analyzing data, and understanding what the data was telling them about where to go in their design process for a potential drug.
The fact is, the market right now is absolutely saying we need fewer, but better scientists. Anything politicians are telling you about a shortage, at least in the fields of Chemistry and Biology, is a load of bunk.