I found a media release for a not-so-new-but-new-to-me anti-gun blog. As is usually the practice, Reasoned DiscourseTM is in full effect. It’s run by the geriatric author of some anti-gun books. A quick Whois search shows it is registered to him, but what kind of hobby blogger puts out a release on PR Newswire. That’s not free. I smell astroturf.
Author: Sebastian
On Our Way To Annual Meeting
We’re on our way to the NRA Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh. Busy agenda this time, with a few drinking events tonight, and tomorrow all day is the NRA Law Seminar. I will do my best to report on what happens at the seminar.
The Effectiveness of What MAIG Is Doing
It’s interesting if you take a look at the comments from Primanti Brothers’ Facebook, you can see just how effective Mayors Against Illegal Guns branding really is. This is a reason why I believe this group is the current biggest threat to our continued success preserving the Second Amendment.
Note the guy that comments “Is anyone really FOR illegal guns?” The assumption is made that the MAIG title reflects an honest communication of the agenda of the group, and no question is made as to what the group’s true agenda might be. They do not bother to think that perhaps the way Mayor Bloomberg and his group intents to curb illegal guns is by making more guns illegal, making it harder to get guns legally, and making it unattractive to keep a firearm for self-defense, hunting, or target shooting. Anyone who doubts need only look at the strict gun laws in New York City, or examine the fact that Bloomberg’s group of Mayors supports a law that would allow people to be entirely stripped of their Second Amendment rights without a trial, or really any form of due process. Bloomberg’s strategy is to front measures which, on the surface, sound eminently reasonable to someone who hasn’t bothered to dig further and find that the devil is in the fine print. It’s a brilliant strategy, and it’s working here, and perhaps even with Primanti, who may not have realized they were stepping into something controversial. Because who is for illegal guns, after all. Sorry guys, you were rooked. The group is about restricting lawful gun owners.
Thank You, Mr. President
I’m glad the White House finally put the birther nonsense to rest. Of course, it won’t work, and that’s probably the point. From what I’ve seen from e-mails forwarded around the Boomersphere, I think our parents’ generation has lost all ability to distinguish truth from falsity, so shortly I expect to see e-mails circulating, quoting a number of non-existent experts that point out all the reasons the long form birth certificate released by the White House is a forgery, tagged with FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE A REAL AMERICAN in giant, blinking neon letters, maybe bordered with some animated graphics.
My apologies to you baby boomer readers who know better, and who laugh at this stuff as much as I do. Obviously I generalize, but behind every stereotype is a grain of truth somewhere. Laugh all you want. You know it’s true.
Futility
The Bahamas authorities are stepping up efforts to confiscate guns from criminals, and are befuddled as to why there are still many shootings. Critics of the effort suggest the time is better spent stopping guns coming into the country. If the focus is on the gun, the program will fail. The focus has to be getting criminals off the streets, not guns. This is an island. Moreover, it’s an island where firearms are pretty much impossible to obtain legally. It is, in theory, the best type of arrangement for being able to keep contraband out of the country, and guns off the street. Yet they can’t. How do people have any hope of accomplishing that here?
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Comment on Sandwichgate
I had a reporter contact me yesterday, but due to a communications mix-up with my co-blogger, which resulted in a, “I thought you were going to contact him,” “No, I pasted that blurb for you for you to send, not me,” conversation late yesterday, we never got back to him. Such things happen.
It looks like the reporter got the story on Sandwichgate (thanks to Cam or that name) out regardless. I should note that I never called for a boycott. Boycotts are something you organize, and I don’t have time for that at Annual Meeting. The NRA dumps a lot of money into a city when it comes to town, much of it on food. If there’s an establishment that’s supporting our opponents, I want people to be aware of it. What action they take from there is up to them.
I think this was a case employees trying accommodating an energetic, good looking young man that came into their shop sporting a cause. I doubt the employees thought much about the fact that they were making their company appear to insert itself into a controversial debate on public policy. Regardless, I think Primanti Bros has largely handled the situation poorly, as has been outlined by Bitter here. In my view the most damning accusation is selectively banning people from their Facebook page.
First rule of good PR is when you find yourself in a hole, to stop digging. They spent at least part of yesterday actively heaving dirt over their heads. I am pleased Primanti Bros has agreed to host NRA News cameras, and wear an NRA shirt. This will hopefully put this situation behind us.
What Winning Looks Like
From Twitter, in regards to our attempts to promote Cam Edwards’s answer to CSGV promoting a link to a poetry slam:
Yeah, I enjoyed that. No doubt they will keep pimping that link over and over in the hopes of getting more people to watch it. We accomplished that in 24 hours, and entirely through grassroots efforts. NRA News made the video, but we promoted it. And just so we can beat them even more, feel free to click here and watch if you haven’t already.
Gun Tattoos
Shooting Illustrated shows off a collection of gun related tattoos. I’m especially a fan of the “I’m the NRA” ass tattoo. Now that’s dedication!
Canine Sweeps? Really?
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the NRA Annual Meeting:
The convention is attended by a good number of families, and the exhibit areas are designed to be safe for children — the guns on display are disabled, no live ammunition is exhibited (canine sweeps will check daily for gunpowder), and attendees carrying weapons are barred from unholstering them. Manufacturers will be showing off their latest models, but firearms will not be on sale on-site as they would be at a gun show.
Gunpowder sniffing dogs in a room full of gun nuts? Those dogs are going to be acting like a hippy in a field of ganga. I’m going to bet they mean explosive sniffing dogs, and someone drew some conclusions. But I’m going to guess that the dogs aren’t present to root out live ammunition. My understanding is the primary safety precaution for guns on the floor is that their firing pins have been removed.
Media in Connecticut Not Happy
This is one area I’m really glad to disappoint them, but look at the arrogance in the reporting:
But the gun lobby cowed the committee into inaction by flooding the hearing room with more than 200 people in March. Ranking Judiciary Committee member Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, is right that lawmakers should listen to constituents. But they also have a duty to consider common sense and whether a bill would enhance public safety.
It wasn’t citizens who flooded the hearing, it was “the gun lobby.” That nefarious, nameless evil. We know better. Kudos to everyone who showed up to the committee hearing. That, more than anything, is responsible for the bill’s swift death.