Sebastian – Page 597 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Arizonans Support Stricter Gun Laws?

Much is being made of this poll, showing 55% of Arizonans want gun laws to be more strict. Any time you see someone touting a poll, you have to look at specifics, because in most cases someone is trying to pull a fast one. The question in question is the following:

In general do you think Arizona should have stricter laws concerning who can buy guns or not?

That’s pretty non-specific, so the polling results aren’t something I’d worry about regardless. It’s not a loaded question, like the one’s MAIG asks, but it’s pretty non-specific. Crosstabs also show that 81% of Democrats answering in the affirmative is what drove the majority results. Republicans flipped, with 55% opposing, and support among independents did not top 50%.

Also, I note the poll would seem to have oversampled women. Women were 55% of this survey, whereas census shows that Arizona is a hair under 50% on women. Women may be overrepresented on voter roles, however. But in the crosstabs, women were more likely to support gun control than men by a fairly wide margin. Support among men was only 43% with 50% opposing, whereas 65% of women support and 28% do not.

But the point is, look carefully at poll results. I would also note the margin of error here is +/- 4%.

Terror Watch Lists and Due Process

Les Jones reports on a story out of the UK where an estranged husband, who happened to work as an immigration officer, put his wife on the no fly list while she was in Pakistan, which prevented her from flying back to the UK.

And to think, we have ~~fascists~~ people in this country who think the use of no-fly lists is acceptable grounds for denying citizens fundamental constitutional rights.

Beware of Fake Experts

Probably because the reporter himself doesn’t know much, he recalls the advice of someone who had no business instructing people in guns:

Unlike many entrepreneurs teaching “concealed carry” classes from sea to shining sea, he urged students to leave their guns at home. […] Anybody pulling a gun must shoot to kill without hesitation. The soldier reasoned that most Rice students simply weren’t prepared to do that.

Leaving the gun at home. That sounds like a winning strategy, doesn’t it? Most real instructors have more respect for their students than this.

Our instructor further advised that shotguns are the weapon of choice for home defense. Unlike a heavy-caliber handgun, a shotgun will put an intruder out of business without a bullet passing through a wall and killing a sleeping child.

Any shotgun load worth a damn will shoot through walls. Any instructor who says something like this is cluelessly endangering his students, and is going to get someone killed by accident.

Meanwhile, NRA fundamentalists pretend that America will be a freer, safer place if more poorly trained, inexperienced, unfit, would-be Bruce Willis heroes were waddling around shopping malls carrying pistols.

Well, at least now we know what you think about us. You might, however, want to look in a mirror in regards to “poorly trained, inexperienced, and unfit,” if you believe shotguns can’t shoot through walls, and are more suitable for home defense for everyone in all situations. For some people, a pistol makes more sense than a shotgun for home defense.

UPDATE: More fake experts, via SayUncle. This one lives in a world where it’s wise and appropriate to carry a .44 magnum revolver for defense against Alaska bears, but a 7.62x39mm Krink is just going to piss the bear off and “embed in the bear’s fat.”

UPDATE: The report would be the kind of guy I’d prefer didn’t own a gun. Sean has managed to find this previous article by the same journalist:

This time last year I was plotting to kill a man. I was going to walk up to him, reintroduce myself and then blow his balls off. I was going to watch him writhe like a poisoned cockroach for a few seconds, then kick him onto his stomach and put three bullets in the back of his head. This time last year I had a gun, and a silencer, and a plan.

No wonder he wants to ban guns. He doesn’t trust himself with them. And for good reason!

Snubbed Again

The White House, I think, is really wanting this issue to go away:

Asked Monday if Obama intends to address gun reform following the New York City investigation, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dodged the question.

“We believe that there are reasons that federal laws are on the books,” Gibbs said, “and the need â€¦ to strongly adhere to and follow existing law is important not just in the purchase of weapons, but throughout our civil life.”

Gibbs walked off the podium as the reporter was asking a follow-up.

Needless to say, this is driving our opponents stark raving CAPS LOCK mad.

Philly Bucks Preemption Again

I’ve been amiss in covering what the Philadelphia City Council is doing, mostly because this comedy routine is getting boring. But here it is:

The bill, introduced by Councilman Darrell Clarke, would eliminate the so-called “Florida loophole,” which allows owners here to obtain nonresident licenses through the mail, even without a Pennsylvania permit.

At this point I don’t even really want NRA wasting money to fight this. They would just be pissing money away. Let them try to enforce it, and then we’ll hit the city with a huge civil rights lawsuit. Any enforcement of this would be under color of law, qualified immunity wouldn’t apply because this is established precedent. A suit under Section 1983 would allow any police brass ordering enforcement of this to be sued in their personal capacity as well. Pretty clearly the city has no regard for its street officers who will follow the orders, because they can also be sued personally for acting under color of law.

Let them pass this crap if it makes them feel better. Even someone as anti-gun as Lynne Abraham knew better than to suggest she would ever enforce this nonsense. Is Seth Williams this smart? We’ll see. But my money would be that this gets signed into law and never enforced. It’s just grandstanding on the part of Councilman Darrell Clarke and the rest of City Council.

Quote of the Day

From Timothy Dolan, Chief of Police of Minneapolis Police Department:

Among the impediments are that we view gun ownership as an individual right and that gun violence has not yet become so unacceptable that we would impinge on those rights for the common good. In short, we accept a certain level of gun violence.

Yeah, I mean, heavens forbid we do something crazy like take the Bill of Rights seriously. To the Minneapolis Police Chief, the Bill of Rights is an inconvenience. What other amendments does the Chief think are “impediments?” How about the Fourth Amendment? Not being able to randomly search people for contraband certainly leads to a certain level of violence, wouldn’t you agree?

You’re damn right it’s an impediment. That’s the whole idea, jackass.

Hat tip to our favorite Brady Board member for the link, who laments that our goal is to dismantle gun laws. Why yes, it is. Because they are what you do instead of something.

Hit Piece on WASR-10

From the Center for Public Integrity, which if you check their funding, receives money from the Joyce Foundation, who the article notes paid a grant to fund the article.

RKBA Proposed for Iowa Constitution

This would be the strongest in the nation, I think:

â€œThe right of an individual to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, and use arms to defend life and liberty and for all other legitimate purposes is fundamental and inviolable. Licensure, registration, special taxation, or any other measure that suppresses or discourages the free exercise of this right is forbidden.â€

Even stronger than the Second Amendment. It’s very important that this passes.

More on Gunrunner Investigation

From the LA Times. Dave Hardy notes: “The spin is now — this happened because we didn’t have enough resources to do more. In other words, ‘give us more money and we won’t ____ up again.'” Funny how with federal agencies, it always seems to come back to that.

Swiss Gun Culture in Pictures

Sorry for the light posting. Today is one of those days where I have back to back meetings. In the mean time, here’s a link to a slideshow of Swiss shooting which I think you’ll enjoy.

Hat tip to Firearms and Freedom for the gallery link.