Category: Gun Rights

He supports outlawing private transfers and magazine bans, and he’s going to hold hearings. Leahy’s committee is where all the anti-gun bills will be referred to, so this is a significant bellwether and it does not bode well for us at all. Folks, we have to get writing. Vermont, unfortunately, has a long history of sending anti-gun legislators to Congress, so if you do live in Vermont, get writing. We have to keep a close eye out, because now that Obama has fired the starter pistol, we’re going to find out how many more “friends” never really were.

Slate has it. Much of it is relatively mild and some uncontroversial. But here are my comments:

• “Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.” Does this mean that we can just get the check without the 4473?
• “Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.” Hey, you know who already has one of those going? The NRA.
• “Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).” This was one of Bloomberg’s recommendations. The potential issue here is that they mandate expensive locks that provide little additional safety benefit over existing locks with the sole purpose to drive up costs.
• “Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.” They did this in the 90s, and it was pure political hackery designed to promote more gun control.
• “Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies” Smart gun nonsense. I want a phaser too.

I hate to say it folks, but this is not nearly as bad as I was expecting, unless there’s more gems hidden in this.

UPDATE: I should note here that I think Obama’s strategy is to lay responsibility for action at the feet of Congress. How much weight does the White House intend to put behind these efforts? We know Obama’s machine has a great deal of energy and organization. We must match that. Hell, we must overwhelm it in the years ahead.

UPDATE: I’d also note we’re not really out of the woods on the executive order issue. One, there could be more. Two, we still don’t really know what’s in this order yet, other than what they’ve released to the media.

The President’s dog and pony show on stripping Americans of their Second Amendment rights.

11:56: Biden gives a callout to Colin Goddard.

11:57: Now it’s Obama’s time at the podium.

11:58: Obama points to the children who wrote him letters.

11:59: Obama says we need to do everything we can to take care of and protect our kids. We all agree on that. We have vast disagreement on how that should be accomplished.

12:00: Obama is channeling Clinton’s whole gun performance schtick with the fist bumping move.

12:02: “If there’s even one life that can be saved, then we have an obligation to try.”

12:04: The executive orders are apparently on the table and will be signed at the end of this.

12:04: Obama is going to direct the CDC to get back into the business of funding gun control advocacy.

12:04: Obama’s points for Congressional Action:

1. Outlaw private sales.
2. Ban on military assault weapons and a ten round limit for magazines. Obama says these guns are only meant to kill a lot of people very quickly. I guess his secret service detail are a bunch of murderers then.
3. We should get tougher on gun traffickers. Congress needs to confirm an ATF director. He names Todd Jones as the nominee.
4. Here comes the payoff to law enforcement: he wants to put more cops back on the street. This is the same formula that got us the first ban.

12:08: These are common sense reforms, Obama says.

12:09: He says this will be difficult, and we will all hew and haw. Mr. President, you have no idea.

12:10: “I will put everything I got into this, and so will Joe, but the only way we can change is if the American people demand it. And by the way, that doesn’t mean just form certain parts of the country.” He notes that it has to be broad support from all walks of America, and not just “the usual suspects.”

12:11: “We’ve suffered too much pain, and care too much about our children!” to not let this happen.

12:12: We have to do this. For the children.

12:13: “With rights come responsibilities. Along with our freedom to live our lives as we will, comes the obligation to allow others to do the same.” Hey, last I checked my gun ownership wasn’t interfering with anyone else’s right to live their lives as they well. Obama continues to blame people like me for the actions of deranged and criminal individuals.

12:14: He’s telling the stories of the victims. Cameras are going because the parents are there. It is sad, but I don’t like using people’s grief for political props.

12:15: “Let’s do the right thing. Let’s do the right thing for them, and the country we love so much. Thank you! I’m going to sign these orders.”

I guess he has to sign them in order to see what’s in them.

I guess even the AP is getting tired of journalists mixing up clips with magazines. Their style guide on Facebook notes:

AP Style tip: A magazine is ammunition storage, feeding device within or attached to firearm. May be fixed or detachable. It is not a clip.

Yes, thank you!

From WVCDL:

Ladies and gentlemen of the WVCDL and West Virginia. Today, around 3PM I met with Senator Manchin. In any conversation with a person of that level of power, there are two conversations that occur at once. The first is the obvious and direct meaning of what is spoken. The second conversation is the meaning between the lines. In this case, neither is good. West Virginia, in my opinion, you have been sold out.

First, let’s talk about the direct conversation. It’s very simple. Senator Manchin supports a three-pronged approach that includes universal background checks, including private sales. He supports mental health-care reform. And he supports magazine capacity limits, and possibly other restrictions.

Further, he stated to me directly, that he believes 75% of West Virginians, like him, believe that the only purposes behind gun ownership and the second amendment are hunting and recreational shooting. He told me that defense is not an angle he considers or believes in, and that is specifically in the context of defense of self, and defense from tyranny. Perhaps now you understand why I’ve been too angry to update you on the results of the meeting. In case you’re thinking of stopping here, it gets worse.

Senator Manchin told me what the media will do if Congress (including the US House of Representatives) fails to pass an AWB and/or mag restrictions. “They will one, by one, put up pictures of dead children. They will show the carnage.” Considering that tomorrow, President Obama will be exploiting children by dragging them on stage with him while he outlays his plan, this is not a huge leap. And these are the words of a United States senator. We, and I don’t mean just West Virginians, I mean Americans, must prepare for this. That is a direct quote. Verbatim. We need every talking head in the conservative media out in front of this. Make it happen. Share this post far and wide.

When it became clear that we were not going to find common ground, and that Senator Manchin intends to support magazine capacity limits and other pointless gun-control laws doomed to failure, I told the senator that we would be there. We would be at every single event. We would be at every fund-raiser. We would be there, and the content of our signs would not be pleasant.

And now we get to the second conversation. The one between the lines. When I said we would be there, he said, “there won’t be any events.”

This confused me. No politician runs for office without fund-raisers and events. And I have to admit, it wasn’t I that grasped the meaning of this. I want to be clear, that the following was not stated. This was deduced by a confidant of mine, and I think she is correct. Manchin was honest. There will be no events. Why would a US Senator not need funds? This is because there will be no campaign. Joe Manchin is too young to retire from a position of such power. What does that mean?

West Virginia, this means that Joe Manchin has sold you out. It means that he has accepted some position, likely promised by Barack Obama, to place his boot in your neck in exchange for power.

Now you know. Now you know why for four hours, I was too angry to update you.

I’ve been a big booster of pro-gun Democrats in the past, and I’ll still stand by true friends of either party, but the Democrats are going to do have do a lot to rebuild trust on this issue. And that’s not to say I really trust Republicans either.

I have to appreciate the style here:

I’d note that the printer used here is more sophisticated than your usual Makerbot Thing-o-Matic printer, but the technology will just get cheaper and more ubiquitous. There’s no stopping it. You’ll also note in this video why it’s called a suppressor, not a silencer.

Obama will release his plans to screw us over.

Have friends and relatives up there? Agree to be safe storage for their contraband items until such time as we can free New York and bring it back to America. Donate to SAF and NRA, because they are going to be filing lawsuits against this eventually. Most importantly, join the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. I just joined, and I’ll help folks in the Empire State any way I can from here.

“Goodnight, and I voted No, and I only wish, I could have done it twice”:

Tomorrow I will talk about next steps for New Yorkers. Governor Cuomo shut democracy, and the voice of gun owners, down tonight. We must not let that happen again. There will soon be a time to be heard in New York, as we fight this in the federal courts.