Bitter – Page 48 – Shall Not Be Questioned

NAGR Steps into Pennsylvania Politics

I’m just going to say “not helping.”

It’s clear that Dudley Brown knows nothing about the political climate here in Pennsylvania. I haven’t seen any PA-specific approval ratings lately that indicate any kind of serious plunge or distrust of Obama, but aside from that issue, their messaging for a blue state is terrible. Brown chooses to focus on questioning whether Pat Toomey is a true conservative. Well, in a state like Pennsylvania, being less than perfectly conservative (or at least perceived as such) is a good thing. It’s clear that Pennsylvania doesn’t want hardcore conservatives.

Fortunately, according to PoliticsPA, the ad buy is small and limited to cable.

Don’t assume that this is a “support Toomey no matter what he does to us” kind of post. I’m really not a fan at the moment, and I’m not going to forget it when the next election comes about. But as a person who actually lives in the suburbs of Philly that make such a huge difference in Pennsylvania elections, I can say that this messaging is off. I’m just glad that it is years out from the election. Hopefully Brown will stay out of Pennsylvania politics again because he clearly doesn’t know how to message to voters here. Portraying Toomey as someone the right expects to be an extreme conservative isn’t the way to win votes of squishy GOP and moderate voters.

Free Magazines!

If you live in Colorado, you may want to get yourself to Infinity Park in Glendale on Saturday for a free magazine giveaway by Magpul.

I love these very public displays of not quite civil disobedience. It really highlights how worthless these laws are. It also sounds like folks in Colorado are prepping for the political fight to come, but they are making it a fun process. I hope it works for them.

Foster Care & Gun Ownership

Blogger Peter from Firearms & Freedom and his wife are currently going through approval to become a foster home, and he discovered an interesting requirement by the licensing agency for potential foster families in Wisconsin. They mandate that potential foster families sign a form that they will not actually carry their firearms, even if they are lawfully licensed to do so, while they have a foster child in their presence.

He has written to his state lawmakers about this issue since it seems a bit irrational that this agency considers the best place for a firearm to be out of the direct control of the owner.

Since my mom was a social worker for her entire career, I asked if she knew of any cases similar to this or related policies from Oklahoma or Virginia. She could not recall any kind of policy on this subject, especially since those who have undergone the multiple background checks are likely to be good homes for kids in need of one.

I find it interesting because this is a case where potential overreach by a social services agency in making this demand of gun owners could end up creating a more restrictive legislative policy that may not handle the sensitive nature of foster placement well. (And I have no issue with Peter seeking assistance from his lawmakers since the licensing agency is, in my opinion, overreaching on this issue with a blanket ban.) I wouldn’t be opposed if potential foster families were asked about their status as a gun owner because I do recognize that there are a handful of kids who workers probably wouldn’t want to place in that home. I also wouldn’t be opposed if social services agencies developed a general safety concerns manual/pamphlet and made potential families sign off that they have reviewed it, and it could include issues/concerns on firearms storage and possession in the home in the same manner that it might cover pool safety or any other safety issue. But telling gun owners that they shouldn’t ever possess their firearm for self- and (foster)family-defense while in the presence of a foster child isn’t the way the handle the situation.

Charging Reporters with the Crime of Journalism

Man who broke DC gun law but got off scott free: “Why should @ggreenwald get off scott free?” http://t.co/tzvSWMIoiB

â€” Political Math (@politicalmath) June 24, 2013

A government-approved contract staffer decided to release just enough information to give people the heads up that there is a surveillance program happening that many people may not find to be constitutional. Yet, the media who so obviously support Obama decide that the reporter who broke the story must be punished for the crime of reporting something unfavorable to the government.

In West Virginia, we see something similar happening when it comes to reporting the story of a prosecutor going after a minor for wearing a pro-Second Amendment t-shirt. When the tide turns against the government agent, the judge orders the reporter barred from the courthouse to keep her from filing a petition on behalf of the press in a gag order hearing and the bailiff enforcing the ban threatened the reporter with arrest after reaching to take her camera and microphone. The prosecutor apparently claimed that the state was trying to silence the teen’s legal team and family for their own good.

Dear West Virginia freedom supporters: The judge who ordered the media banned from the courthouse is elected. You can fix this and send him a message about limits on his power. The prosecutor overseeing the two staff attorneys who insist that court orders silencing defendants are the best things for society and individuals is also elected, and his name is John W. Bennett. There you go; you have tools to make positive changes in your local community. (h/t to Miguel for the link on the WV case)

More on the Zimmerman Jury

As the trial kicks into gear this week, Legal Insurrection has a very detailed look at the jurors and how they answered questions during the jury selection process.

I have to say that if I didn’t think this was a case of prosecution via mob justice instead of hard evidence of a crime, I would almost feel sorry for the prosecutor. Almost all of the jurors are noted for their understanding of the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Most of the jurors are pretty hostile to the media and admit that they don’t trust them or what they hear in the news. Several have experience with firearms, including one woman who used to have a concealed carry permit. If you really read the whole post, it’s not the gun experience that makes me think Zimmerman has a chance to seriously make his case to this jury. The comments about understanding beyond a reasonable doubt and standing up to people causing harm to innocents that make me think the State is going to have an uphill battle.

And that’s exactly how it should be. The burden is on the government to prove a crime was committed and that the case was not lawful self-defense.

By the way, I find it amusing that two of the white women the State wanted kicked off are women who recalled that Zimmerman claims to have been injured in the struggle, and they also don’t believe that circumstantial evidence is grounds to convict. Yeah, damn those women who might be open to considering both sides and believe that the State should have to provide evidence beyond a reasonable doubt! Those pesky citizens make the life of a prosecutor so hard…

Firearms & The Zimmerman Jury

CNN has a piece on the role that familiarity with firearms may play in regards to the jury in George Zimmerman’s trial. It features one of the “tests” that Zimmerman’s attorney used in selection proceedings and also features a few comments by a firearms attorney from Florida on the value of women on the jury in this case.

Sorry for nearly all video content today. I’m playing stuff in the background as I put together materials for a gun show table this weekend. Being a “real world” activist is sometimes distracting from blogging. :)

David Kopel on The Truth About Gun Control

Dave Kopel gives a speech talking about how the issue of standing up to a tyrannical government (through the eyes of the founding generation) is related to the issue of personal self-defense. In both cases, it’s both self-defense and defeating tyranny. The topic is an introduction to his longer form essay book The Truth About Gun Control.

It Just Gets Worse for MAIG

The general right-of-center media has had a field day with Mike Bloomberg’s missteps with his MAIG bus tour. It seems like there are stories about it every single day since his people read off the Boston bomber as a gun violence victim whose life they want to protect.

Now the Washington Examiner is looking over MAIG’s list and found that just a quick review shows that about 1 in 12 names on their list of victims are actually criminals themselves who were killed in the progress of committing a crime by police or armed citizens in acts of self-defense. MAIG is having to walk back from the list and is now trying to say that the story isn’t in the circumstances surrounding the names, but the numbers. That’s interesting since the entire tour and the bus itself are branded as the “No More Names” tour, not the “No More Numbers” tour.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns doesn’t even defend their criminal mayors so publicly, yet they’ll stand by and say that the number of criminals killed in the midst of violent crimes matter. At least their criminal mayor members are typically non-violent criminals.

What a Shame

Sen. Dianne Feinstein got stuck in an elevator with Senate aides today. Unfortunately, they let her out.

Mike Bloomberg’s Rats

We all know about NYC’s Mike Bloomberg illegal mayor problem in Mayors Against Illegal Guns, where he recruits dozens of criminal mayors to work with him at disarming law abiding citizens. But it looks like Bloomberg is trying to help out another type of rat take over in people’s lives.

Bloomberg is instituting a composting law in New York City that will ask (initially, then require in a couple of years) residents to store rotting food for a week so the city can collect it. Yes, he is asking entire city of New York to keep food scraps sitting around to attract more rodents and bugs for a week while they wait for the city to send a special collection team to pick it up.

Now, I have no issue with people who choose to composte. In fact, the city apparently did a voluntary trial run on Staten Island that saw rather significant participation rates. But what they don’t seem to be focusing on is that those participants lived in single family homes on lots that gave them the option to store the food scraps outside of the living areas. Those who live in high rises will not have that kind of flexibility.

But that’s not the only kind of rodents Bloomberg is promoting at the moment.

His Mayors Against Illegal Guns tour continues to garner negative attention for how they define gun violence victims. It’s not just the Boston bomber that Bloomberg’s group initially labeled a “victim.” Did you know that cop killers are victims we must mourn? Jacob also shows us that Bloomberg labeled a man who was shot by police while threatening a toddler’s life as a gun violence victim. Mike Bloomberg and his MAIG allies think we need to stop the ~~lawful defensive shootings~~ senseless slayings of these killers targeting law enforcement and children. It’s an interesting position to take by a group with a higher-than-average rate of criminal activity.