Category: Gun Rights

Kathy Jackson of Cornered Cat fame, in the comments, floated an idea that I think merits some discussion:

Try this: they want to keep criminals and prohibited people from having guns.

We want to be sure that good people can always get guns without bureaucratic delays or mistaken denials.

The only way to meet both these demands is to refuse universal background checks while keeping a closer eye on prohibited people.

I suggest adding a prohibited stamp to the driver’s license of anyone who cannot legally buy or own a firearm. The seller should always check the buyer’s ID when they sell a gun. If the prohibited stamp isn’t there, they’re good to go. Jot down the date and the DL number, and you have your proof of a background check — without bureaucratic nonsense and with no possibility of registration.

No registration required. No bureaucratic bottlenecks.

The big problem you’re going to have with something like this is implementation. The federal government doesn’t control drivers’ licenses, the states do. What’s more, as the Supreme Court has stated in Printz v. United States and more recently in NFIB v. Sebelius, the federal government can neither commandeer state officials, nor can it coerce states. The only policy option that federal government has is enticement. So in order for this to work, it would require the cooperation of all 50 states. You likely can’t threaten highway or other funds if the states do not cooperate, given the ruling in NFIB. The only federal policy option would be federal licensing, but let us agree to not even go there.

Currently you have to produce some kind of state-issued identification to purchase a firearm at retail, and most private sellers will ask as well (to insure you live in the state). So if such a system were be put in place, and all paperwork and NICS checks eliminated, it would be a better option than the status quo. However, I do not believe the gun control advocates will go for this, because background checks are how the issue is sold. Background checks sound like a great thing to a lot of Americans, and it polls well. The primary purpose of banning private transfers is to implement a universal registration scheme through the 4473. Registration has never polled as well.

Well, it looks like the slow news cycle only lasted for a couple of days, so we find ourselves, once again, with lots of news worth linking.

Connecticut’s “preppers” prepared for gun debate. They are a big and pretty engaged community. I’ve gotten some links form prepper blogs that can rival a link from Instapundit.

The Democratic Farmer-Labor in Minnesota (a.k.a the Democratic Party) sets a course on gun control. Needless to say, they are pushing for more. If you live in Minnesota, your imperative is to keep your rural DFLers in line.

The changing face of gun control. “I support the Second Amendment,” is the new refuge of scoundrels.

By now many of you have seen this video where Joe Biden admits gun control won’t be effective at stopping crime or mass shootings. Well, that’s because the purpose of gun control isn’t either of those things. To say that they want to turn millions of gun owners into criminals is not really accurate. What’s accurate is that they already think you’re a criminal. They just want to be able to punish you for it.

Joe Biden is coming to Pennsylvania to rub elbows with Bob Casey. Remember this in 2018, when casey is up again.

The inmates are truly running the asylum. The election has seriously emboldened the Democratic Party, and now the left is solidly running things. If the Republicans stand with us, we have to punish the Democrats in 2014. That’s going to take effort. Our people are very bad at positive reinforcement, and that’s something we have to change.

How the gun control movement got smart? When did this happen? Next article “How the pro-Second Amendment movement stopped being a herd of cats.”

David Keene sure seems to be racking up his frequent flyer miles. That’s good, because I think he’s been a good spokesman. More here.

Evolving Christian attitudes towards personal defense.

Martin O’Malley takes a swipe at the NRA. Along with Cuomo, he’s one of the other hopefuls for 2016. Hey, running on gun control worked for Al Gore, right?

Coverage of the rally in Trenton, to oppose this. More here. The snowstorm likely did not help turnout. There was also turnout in Utah, Maine, and Ohio.

Guns are fun!

Apparently some of our public schools are solving the problem of low scores in Algebra by just not teaching it. I hope you’re brushing up on your Mandarin.

Remember that only police can be trusted with guns.

Passing up a gun show for lack of parking. Seems to be a common problem these days.

Gun accidents down, while other accidents rise. Maybe society, and particularly doctors, ought to get their profession out of the business of taking sides in political debates, and instead focus on more common sources of accidents.

The New Mexico legislature is controlled by the Democratic Party, and they are wasting no time trying to ram through a ban on private sales. I did not want it to come to this, because I am not partisan when it comes to this issue. I welcome true pro-gun Democrats and appreciate them. I liked it when both parties were competing for our vote.

But the fact is the Democratic Party as a whole are now demonstrating they cannot be trusted when it comes to guns. Guns rights seem to be fashion to entirely too many Democrats. When it’s in-fashion to support gun rights, they support gun rights. But once their dear leader declares gun rights are no longer fashionable, they line up to see who can be the first to screw the Second Amendment. That’s not how a true friend behaves.

And to top it all off, the Republicans might just decide they can go back to being the party of “Not as bad as the other guy.”

Joe notes all the problems with the background check issue, and I would concur that the issue is not about background checks but about registration. We’ve already had defacto registration in the United States since 1968, through the 4473 you fill out with every purchase. But it’s weak tea when it comes to our main concern. With California putting confiscation of registered firearms on the table, that’s going to change the dynamic for many of our people.

Let me offer you a scenario, where a confiscation bill is passed, but they pass it out of the gate, with a failure to do registration first. First, the knock at the door is unlikely, because they don’t know what I have. Sure, they could recall all the 4473s, but I think that would be met with mass civil disobedience. The proper response to such an order would be for gun dealers to take all their 4473s out into the streets and burn them. But would they?

Even if dealers turn in their 4473s, and a registry is compiled from it, you were still free to sell those firearms privately. If the knock does come at the door “Oh, you know, when it looked like they were going to pass that bill, I went to a gun show and sold them all.” Perfectly legal. “Yeah, I checked the guy’s ID, but I didn’t keep any record of who he was.” Perfectly legal. Not that I’d suggesting saying anything to cops who show up at your door, but just to illustrate here.

In the event that private sales are banned, if a California-style confiscation bill is passed, you will have no options. If you answer that you sold the guns without “registering” them, you’re still going to jail. You just admitted to a crime. If you tell them you lost them on a camping trip when your canoe tipped over, well, now you know what “lost and stolen” is really all about. You’re in a no win situation. They know what you have, and if you don’t have it, you’re a criminal. If you do have it, you’re a criminal. You’re screwed.

I am very concerned we’re going to get a private transfer ban rammed down our throats, and if we do, I can only hope it can have enough exceptions tacked onto it such that it does not make for an effective registry. The anti-gun folks have to understand this: we don’t trust you. We don’t trust the politicians. Confiscation is on the table. Your machinations that it is not are soothing lies meant to trick the more gullible among us. They barely avoided confiscation in New York, and now California is floating a bill to confiscate registered firearms. I am very sympathetic to the concern background checks are meant to address, but the whole system would have to be rethought from the ground up before we’re going to agree to apply them universally. It might also help to tell politicians and radicals in your own movement that if you want to have some credibility with “we’re not out to take your guns,” it would help to stop floating proposals that would, you know, take our guns.

… this is an awesome quote of the day. Hey, a few days ago saying you needed an assault weapon to protect yourself from rogue cops on a rampage would have been tin-foil-hat worthy.

I didn’t have enough to do one yesterday, but I do today:

Gun Control Success is in sight for the Brady Campaign, or so Dan Gross thinks. What really surprises me about this interview is he only said “We are Better than This” once.

Pediatricians warn never to have a gun in the home. This has been their position for years.

New effort for Swiss gun control.

Les Jones: Public still confused about what assault weapons really are. That’s OK, because lawmakers are really confused about what they are too these days.

Minnesota gun control hearings continue. We’re in a lot of trouble in the states where Democrats control the legislature. Democrats love gun control again, and we need to teach them a lesson. Jacob thinks it’ll be suicide for them. Well, that depends on us. It also depends on what the GOP does. In Jacob’s shoes, I wouldn’t feel too great about switching from Tweedledee to Tweetledumb, given Tweedledumb was complicit in the sellout.

Rand Paul complains about his toilet not working to the person responsible.

Salon thinks Obama’s push for gun control is gutsy. Every single cop that appears in these photo ops is a traitor to their oath, and ought to be ashamed of themselves.

David Keene meeting with Colorado Democrats, who want themselves some new gun control.

Pennsylvania Democrats are no different.

Years ago the gun control proponents were pushing measures to require gun owners to buy huge and expensive insurance liability policies, because, naturally, if you have a gun you’re going to shoot someone with it eventually. Those ideas had died out. Not anymore. This isn’t all that California is considering either.

Looks like Maine gun owners will now have their turn to be ritually flogged by hostile Democratic lawmakers.

It’s not all playing defense. Pro-gun bills are moving in Kansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas.

This is interesting, to say the least:

The private discussions involve liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who is the No. 3 Senate Democratic leader; West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, an NRA member and one of the chamber’s more moderate Democrats; Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., another NRA member and one of the more conservative lawmakers in Congress; and moderate GOP Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois.

What is Coburn doing working with these clowns?

Participating senators declined to provide details of the talks. But people following the discussions say the talks have touched on:

-The types of family relatives who would be allowed to give guns to each other without a background check.

-Possibly exempting sales in remote areas.

-Whether to help some veterans who sought treatment for traumatic stress disorder – now often barred from getting firearms – become eligible to do so.

If you’re going to shove this crap down my throat, you better give me a better package than that, Tom.

Via Politicker New Jersey:

A pro-gun rights group will be on the Statehouse steps Friday for a rally around the Second Amendment.

The New Jersey Second Amendment Society is meeting in Trenton at 10 a.m. to support residents’ right to keep and bear arms.

The list of speakers includes former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and Sen. Michael Doherty, (R-23), Washington Township.

Also, from ANJRPC:

Fresh from Maryland Shall-Issue:

Yesterday Maryland Shall Issue, in concert with the NRA, the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore, staged the largest “Gun Day” rally in the history of our state – official state estimates count 4,000 pro-rights supporters who converged at our statehouse for a morning rally and afternoon hearings in the Senate.

We literally shut the place down. Soon after the hearing, I got a call from the MD Capital Police. They told us the building was already at maximum capacity and that fire code meant no more entrants.

This was more than a rally. Our people all showed up to attend the hearing and to testify. Even after locking out our many members, there would be more than 1,000 people in line to testify. Just getting your name on the list of witnesses took six hours. Every person stood in line, eager to get their voices heard. Unfortunately, the chairman of the committee – Senator Brian Frosh – is a the largest Gun Control Advocate in the state. He decided to unilaterally cut off testimony after 4 hours from each side. Even when reduced, the Gun Controllers ran out witnesses. They had them on the list to testify, but after 5 PM many were no where to be found. They were mostly government employees – it looks like their interest in Gun Control ended when the paychecks ran out. The Chairman eventually reduced “testimony” to nothing more than your name and town. That’s it. That was was his idea of how to let people petition their government. Our side went until they literally told us to leave. The last name was spoken at almost 10 PM.

We had an effect. Publicly many admit that licensing is dead; that registration is about to fail; and privately there is talk that even the AWB is at risk. They are splitting the Governor’s bill into smaller bills, because as of today they big one would not pass either chamber.

We are not guaranteed a final win on everything. But this was supposed to be a cake walk for them, and the people of this state are going to make them work for it.

Maryland Shall Issue has been asked what we would compromise – whether we could “throw them a bone.” We told them that we would not compromise a single right. They told us that means we could lose. Our membership is united: we would rather have all of our rights stolen from us, than to willingly give up even one.

Everyone keep us in their prayers. We are holding our line in this fight. Pray we hold it until the end.

Good show! It is unfortunate that when a legislature gets in its mind to do something, it can be a beast to stop, but hopefully we’ll weather through, and keep punching back twice as hard.

UPDATE: Here’s the WaPo article.