Anti-Gun Folks – Page 75 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Watching the Twitter Debate Meltdown

Under their new leadership, the Brady Campaign has basically conceded that they aren’t planning to be serious players in the public policy space when it comes to actually lobbying for change to gun laws. They put their entire faith of any relevancy whatsoever in public policy in relying on the media since they hired an advertising executive to take over the struggling group. He was put to the test in his focus on getting a gun control question asked at tonight’s presidential debate in Colorado.

First, let’s say outright that not a single question was asked about gun control. In a swing state that was the site of the last major press event for the Brady Campaign, they put everything they have into getting a question inserted into this debate by the mainstream press moderator. It didn’t pay off.

Second, the rather interesting thing was to watch the meltdown on Twitter via the direct tweets from Brady and their retweets. Let’s watch how it unfolded…

Can’t believe Lehrer is asking the same Q re: economy 5x but won’t ask about #guncontrol as they sit a stone’s throw from Aurora.

— Jennifer RiceEpstein (@jriceepstein) October 4, 2012

.enough talk now about economy- get to talk about preventing gun violence #debate2012 #wearebetterthanthis

— Joan Peterson (@commongunsense) October 4, 2012

RT @bmalte32 Numbers, numbers. How about these: 48K Americans will die in next 4 yrs from guns unless our leaders act #wearebetterthanthis

— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012

@mittromney @barackobama #debate2012 #wabtt Shame on both of you! Not to discuss gun violence IN DENVER @uofdenver! #auroratheatershooting

— Sandy Phillips (@MamaRedfield) October 4, 2012

RT @mreifler Enuf of politics standing in the way of safety. Candidates r 10 mi from Aurora. What will they DO about lax gun laws? #wabtt

— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012

20 mins left in #debate2012. Candidates are in DENVER, a stone’s throw from Aurora & Columbine. #AskAboutGuns! #wearebetterthanthis

— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012

Shocked gun control isn’t an issue brought up based on the proximity of the debate thanks @bradybuzz for the reminder #debate2012

— Elissa Nauful (@elissan) October 4, 2012

Finally, the Brady Campaign staff must have been watching MSNBC after the debate. From what I’ve read tonight, the MSNBC talking point is that Obama’s failed performance was all the fault of Jim Lehrer. The Brady folks jumped on board with that blame game.

Jim Lehrer missed an opportunity to move our national conversation forward but we know the conversation has only just begun. #wabtt

— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012

Clearly, their message is so relevant that not even a Chicago politician who has previously supported bans on handguns wants to touch their topic in a presidential campaign.

UPDATE: While they might have had a meltdown on Twitter, the Brady Campaign posted outright lies and fabrications on Facebook tonight. In fact, they made up their own alternate reality debate where gun control was the main focus of the debate.

Will Mitt Debate Barry on Gun Control?

The media is in a tizzy. I’m not sure either of them want the subject to come up. Mitt isn’t going to want to revisit his ridiculous and incorrect signing statement to the Massachusetts bill he signed that was never an assault weapons ban, and Barry certainly doesn’t want to have to answer questions about gun control. I think it will tend to play in our favor, however, if the issue comes up. So why are the Bradys getting behind it?

Abandoning All Pretense of Moderation

The Brady Campaign is outraged that the Daily Caller would dare raffle off a gun, and now they are demanding criminal charges be filed against NRA and Daily Caller by the New York and California Attorneys General. This is just an act of desperation, folks. A lame and naked attempt to be relevant, and to drum up buzz on the idea that NRA is evil and shady. First, I’m not sure why New York or California law would be at issue here, since there is no raffle that is occurring in either of those two states. The raffle is presumably happening in either Virginia or the District of Columbia, both of which have provisions for charitable gaming.

We should be glad to see the Brady Campaign and CSGV resorting to thug tactics. It means that’s all they have left.

MAIG Not Above Playing Up Victimhood

They are recruiting a survivor of the Aurora mass shooting in order to push MAIG’s agenda, none of which would have done a damned thing to stop the Aurora shooting:

Barton said he hopes moderator Jim Lehrer asks the candidates about gun control, and specifically presses them on universal background checks, mental health services and bans on extended magazines and assault weapons.

â€œThe bottom line is neither of [the candidates], in the wake of Aurora and Oak Creek, has shown any leadership on this issue in any specific way,â€ he said.

He would have passed any background check, because he simply did not have any contact with the mental health system that would have showed up in a background check. There is no law that is going to stop someone from buying a gun if they slip through the justice system or mental health system, and never get a record in NICS. No amount of gun control can make up for the fact that the mental health system is broken. When these mass killers consistently pass background checks, why is it that the victims are consistently signed up to push for proposals that just extend what already failed? Clearly doubling down on failure is smart public policy.

Maintaining the Echo Chamber

I have to wonder if having to ensure that only one side of the debate is heard has any effect at all on the morale of our opponents. If I knew the only way I could win was to continue to shape the issue was through strict suppression of debate, alongside a campaign of disinformation and demonization when it comes to guns and gun ownership, I’d start to look for another cause. I’d find that state of affairs very dissatisfying even on a basal emotional level.

Alaska …

… now 100% MAIG free. I wish we could say that about Pennsylvania, but at the current arrest rate for the mayors, at least the numbers are moving in a positive direction.

Blogs & The 2012 Election

No one who reads or contributes to blogs really ponders the impact of blogging on elections anymore. We’ve known it can make an impact for many years at this point. I’ve seen two great examples of blogging that can make an impact in a race so far this year.

One is Prof. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection and his reporting on the Elizabeth Warren law license problem. His top notch reporting on the issue got this comment from an initial Warren defender:

…I wanted to let you know ASAP that I concede that your discovery this morning answers all of my arguments and is a gamechanger. Your diligence in investigating this matter is commendable.

If you haven’t been following the story, Prof. Jacobson has basically uncovered the Elizabeth Warren has likely been practicing law in Massachusetts in violation of Massachusetts law. Rather than clearing the air, the campaign is refusing to answer any questions about the matter which leaves many wondering if she is, in fact, hiding from a possible crime admission. Talk about a huge piece of original reporting that could very well end up leading to an October surprise moment.

Yes, this is the thorough vetting of the Massachusetts Democratic Party – and the White House for that matter, since she served in the administration. If the Dems blow this race twice with terrible female candidates, it will not reflect well upon female candidates in the future of politics there. I admit being embarrassed for Jane Swift when she started crying during her concession speech.

The second bit of good election-related posting I noticed today stood out because it’s a thoroughly local take on a local race targeting a specific demographic. Great Satan, Inc. attended the NRA endorsement event for Jeff Flake who is running for the open Arizona Senate seat. But what I appreciate is that they highlighted not just that Jeff Flake is backed by NRA, but just how far his opponent would go in pushing gun control. They feature a quote from Richard Carmona that notes his support for training mandates to own firearms. Considering we saw the nightmare of training requirements through Emily Miller’s experience in DC, this is a big deal that isn’t just a happy talking point on safety and education. It can be a true roadblock to owning a firearm, and that has nothing to do with the owner’s ability to shoot.

So, in conclusion, reporting by bloggers is still relevant to elections. And you owe to yourself to check out both of these examples.

Insurrectionist Quote of the Day

I’ve never really wrapped my head around why the Coalition to Stop Gun ~~Ownership~~ Violence feels the need to create a warped and ahistorical version of the Founding Fathers, and then try to pass themselves off as the true guardians of the Founders’ vision. The typical reaction from lefties is why we should pay any heed to what 18th century slaveholders had to say about anything, and is perhaps a more defensible position intellectually than making up your own history. I’ve always liked this quote from Thomas Jefferson, in a 1787 letter to James Madison:

Societies exist under three forms sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under governments wherein the will of every one has a just influence, as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our states in a great one. 3. Under governments of force: as is the case in all other monarchies and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that the 1st. condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that enjoys a precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has it’s evils too: the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it thatÂ a little rebellionÂ now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

Note the Latin phrase “Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem.” which translates into “I’d rather have a perilous liberty, than a peaceful servitude.” Now, you’d think if CSGV’s vision of the Founders were correct, Madison would have scolded Jefferson’s insurrectionist ideas, but he never did. That’s the real intellectual problem with CSGV’s, quite frankly insane ramblings on history. You have all these founding fathers writing about ideas that were supposedly, in their world, an anathema, yet you never see them arguing with each about it. In CSGV’s world, our Founders overthrew the British crown, and then renounced insurrectionism. Unfortunately for them, the historical record just does not back up their assertions. I will do a series of these quotes, since gun news is slow, laying out the fact that our Founding Fathers were, in fact, most concerned with preserving the right of their people to free themselves from the yoke of tyrannical government.

CSGV often asserts that never in the Constitutional debates did the Founders mention individual self-defense as the core of the right. This is true. The core of the right, from their point of view, was that an armed population would act as a check on the power of the central government. If this version of the Second Amendment were adopted by the Courts, it would have implications that CSGV would no doubt be appalled by, such as protections for machine guns and man-portable weapons like rockets, and anti-tank missiles.

Another Illegal Mayor Against Gun Rights

It looks like a recent member of MAIG is under arrest for a wide variety of corruption and theft charges.

Prosecutors say [Myron] Rosner committed grand theft by using money from his campaign account for personal ads on the bus benches. Another charge involves allegedly free bus bench ads given to Rosner so the company would not lose the city account. Prosecutors say it was understood that Rosner would not repay the cost of those ads.

They say that other charges include bad campaign checks and other finance violations.

As the former mayor of North Miami Beach, MAIG proudly used him in their letters to Congress when lobbying for more restrictions on the law-abiding while he was setting up his re-election campaign to violate multiple laws.

If It Was Really About The Children

Groups we’d see before the gun control groups we have now, if they were really concerned about saving children:

Coalition for Better Seatbelts
Brady Campaign Against Swimming Pools and Large Buckets
Coalition Against Plastic Bags
National Coalition to Ban Dangerous Household Chemicals
Pedestrian Policy Center
Medical Community Against Bicycles
Mayors Against Tall Stairs

Why? Because all of these things kill children more often than firearms. Also, I was thinking what’s with the huge surge in poisoning among adults versus children? You’d think kids would be more prone to quaffing poisons than adults. But then I remembered most of us like quaffing a certain beverage that is poisonous in large quantities. Then you also hear stories about drunks on the wagon slamming down rubbing alcohol in a last, desperate act. But I wouldn’t qualify that last one as accidental.