Sebastian – Page 467 – Shall Not Be Questioned

What a Day

I am now back in the realm of the employed. You don’t know how relieving it is to get up and go to work. While my stress levels are still pretty high because of having to adapt to a new job and new environment, there is a strange comfort in routine. Once I got up and started to head out the door, I had to remind myself to go straight instead of take a left, where I would have gone to my previous employer. It won’t be long now before the new job feels more routine.

I’m working in New Jersey now, so you can all have sympathy for me. While New Jersey may be lacking in reciprocity for some things, it does have tax reciprocity with Pennsylvania, so I continue to pay taxes as if I was working in Pennsylvania. The only difference for me is I’m under New Jersey employment law, which is actually more employee friendly than Pennsylvania.

There are some things that will take some getting used to. I was high enough in the other job to have an office. Now I’m in a half-height cubicle in a high traffic area. I used to be the king of my domain, and now I’m back to being a cog in the machine. It’ll take some adjustment. I’m hoping to keep a reasonable blogging schedule up, but sometimes it may get difficult. Part of no longer being king of my own domain means having a lot less time flexibility than I used to. At my previous job, I worked at home most nights. This is more of a hard-wired day job. In some ways that’s good, but in some ways not. Time will tell.

I Think Some Name Changes Are In Order

Coalition to Clean-Up Vacant Lots? Brady Campaign to Prevent Litter? According to a study done at the University of Pennsylvania, cleaning up vacant lots has a significant effect on people committing crimes using guns. I think it’s safe to say that, given this study, it shows cleaning up vacant lots has done more to reduce crime than anything advocates by gun control groups. So why not get on board? I mean, the goal is to reduce gun violence, right? Right!?!?

Sugarmann Has Seen Better Days

Joe Huffman frequently reminds us of quotes from the gun banners in the 1990s, and this quote from Sugarmann, speaking of gun control merely being a half-mesaure, is telling. Joe comments:

Sugarmann, goes through regulatory proposals such as licensing, registration, expanding background checks at gun shows and stopping the import of high-capacity magazines. He then concludes a complete ban is the only rational conclusion.

I grudgingly admire Sugarmann forÂ his genius in regards to â€œassault weaponsâ€Â and his honesty in saying the endgame must be, always has been, and always will be a complete ban.

Sugarmann was, at one time, quite an intellectual force in the movement to ban guns. Violence Policy Center has never really minced words about the fact that it believes a ban is the only way to go, with anything less being just a stepping stone. Ultimately, and perhaps ironically, his honesty about the end-game is part of what contributed to the downfall of the movement. As genius as his pushing of the assault weapons issue was, as an incremental step along the way toward broader gun controls or gun bans, it was a bridge too far for many gun owners, and ultimately greatly contributed to the demise of his cause.

I’ve often found myself agreeing with Sugarmann on the ineffectiveness of half-measures proposed by many gun control advocates. But Sugarmann thinks you can ban guns, which as we’ve been pointing out, is being rendered a joke of an idea by advancing technology, and the emergence of international smuggling. It will be interesting to see how VPC and Brady fare in the post-Heller world. I think most of the gun control movement that was spawned out of the 70s, in the wake of the Gun Control Act, is fast coming to a close. It will be replaced by new groups like MAIG, who are going to be mostly focused on defending gun regulations in the few states controlled by their large cities. Grand dreams of prohibition are over.

We’re Winning, Part 248

Gun wary reporter from the Boston Globe, Kevin Paul Dupont, takes a look at shooting scholarships being offered by schools, and manages to do a good article on the topic.

According to Hammond, college shooters are typically a cerebral lot. His current coed squad of 10 includes eight shooters who are pursuing engineering degrees. Over the years, he said, his athletes in arms have come from various cultures, including city kids and some from small-town hunting communities. By and large, the students are bright, disciplined, goal-driven athletes who have the requisite endurance and patience to squeeze off 60 shots at a target, needing to remain on their spot for 1 3/4 hours.

Read the whole thing. A big problem our opponents face, despite being trounced in the new media space, is the traditional media has been more willing to take our issue seriously, and cover it more fairly. I think a few things are driving this. One, most online articles now include e-mails to the reporters. While there are a lot of bozos on the Internet, there are still plenty of our people who are willing to engage with folks on the other side in a reasonable way. I think this has come a long way to helping the media take us seriously.

The other is the rise of alternative media, which through interacting with traditional media has provided a source of information, and more importantly correction, when the traditional media has gotten it wrong. Despite the fact that I’ve had only a handful of reporters ever comment on a link of mine to a story of theirs, I’m sure a lot more at least notice when new media sources are talking.

This is, of course, bad news for advocates of gun control, which have always relied on emotions rather than facts to make their case, and who engaged in a campaign of vilification and mischaracterization of gun ownership and Second Amendment advocacy, depersonalizing us with terms like the “gun lobby,” or by suggesting that our whole issue is driven by “gun industry profits,” rather than by individual citizens who value our shooting heritage and value the right to keep and bear arms.

New York Times Article on the Freedom Group

The New York Times has an interesting article on the Freedom Group, including a link to this blog pointing to an article we did a few years ago when George Kollitides ran for the NRA Board. I think they are suggesting there is more controversy here than there actually is. We’re not really all that worried about what the Freedom Group is busy doing with the firearms industry, so much as we just had concerns as to what exactly George Kollitides was going to bring to the NRA Board.

I’ve never really been able to figure out what Freedom Group’s strategy is, short of being able to take advantage of economies of scale by consolidating what has generally been an inefficient cottage industry into something more lean and profitable. But what innovation has Freedom Group really bought to the industry? I think some of the biggest factors holding the industry back, namely marketing to younger shooters, is just as bad as it’s even been.

Fairly Detailed Article in Arizona Republic on F&F

Well worth a read, as it covers just about everything involved in the scandal.

Obama Administration Backs Down Officially

Salazar has issued a statement, which can be found here, saying that shooting on BLM land won’t be interfered with. They unofficially backed down earlier, but this makes it official.

Telescope Blogging

Clayton is offering advice on telescopes for Christmas. This is kind of timely, because after our star tour to the top of Mauna Kea last year, I’ve been thinking I should get one. But it’s a daunting topic. Reflector or refractor? And which kind? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Do I want one that would be easy to schlep to Hawaii? I’d definitely need one that would be easy to transport, because there’s not a whole lot that be seen sandwiched here between Philadelphia and New York.

I’ve also thought that astrophotography would be pretty cool, but I’m guessing pretty expensive as well.

Sometimes You Really Have to Wonder …

… if the other side really is on the side of the criminal. I think it’s at least true that they have a deep and abiding hatred of gun owners who stand up for their rights, and refuse to be complicit in the disarmament of others.

Natural Selection

SayUncle notes that The City (his The City) has been having Coyote problems, and that shooting them should be an acceptable solution. I’ve never understood why this is considered unacceptable by the modern PC establishment, but then again, I’ve never really viewed humans to be apart from nature. We are the apex predator on this planet, and I don’t think that ought to be denied.

In nature, predators don’t usually tolerate the presence of other predators, so they all learn to stay out of each others way. This is a basic survival mechanism, since animals that learn to tolerate the presence of things that would like to eat it, or their young, typically aren’t going to last long. Nature just won’t select for those traits.

It’s not surprising then, that when humans start tolerating the presence of other predators, or even encouraging it, those predators will tend to lose their natural fear over time, and spread those fearless genes onto their offspring. Pretty soon you can’t leave rover out, or leave the kids out to play, without having to worry. When predators who tolerate the presence of humans are shot, they are removed from the gene pool. Nature selects only for predators that fear humans as a fellow predator, and steer clear. When you’re dealing with an animal like a Coyote, which is not endangered and adapts very well to new environments, it’s difficult for me to see why this is an issue for anyone. The Coyote is very fit for survival. Sometimes I wonder whether we are.