Category: Gun Rights

Contacts I have in the Land of Lincoln indicate the attack from the anti-gun folks is far broader than initially indicated.

• There is a shooting range bill that would essentially shut down most recreational shooting in the state, and bring the remainder under strict regulation.
• There is a magazine ban. The grandfathering is practically non-existent for existing magazines. Transfer is not possible except to an heir or out of state. Magazines must be registered to be legal.
• There is a lost & stolen requirement for magazines. Do you know where all your magazines are? I don’t. I haven’t even counted. Why? Because it’s a box with a spring.
• The assault weapons ban is charitably worse than Feinstein’s. Basically if it’s not grandpa’s deer rifle, it’s pretty much illegal. It will outlaw just about all popular semi-automatic firearms. What about .50BMG? Can’t have those either. Grandfathering is as non-existent as it is for magazines. Registration is required for them to be legal, only transferrable to heirs or out of state.
• The anti-gun folks in Illinois also seem to believe the only legitimate sport shooting is Olympic shooting. The rest of us who do other shooting sports, sanction by NRA, USPSA, or IDPA can get bent, apparently.

So if you’re in Illinois, get calling. Get your friend to call too. Know an old guy that has an M1 Carbine or two he thinks are safe? Get him involved too, because the M1 could be affected. We have to stop them here. It was inevitable that the Chicago machine would lash out after losing so badly in Court, but we have to stop them here. Illinois gun owners are now at the front line of the first battle in what’s going to be an awful, multi-year war.

The goal here is to throw everything at us, wear us down, and keep wearing us down until we capitulate; until people are so tired of calling and writing, that we stop doing it. Are we going to let them do that to us? We have to stop each and every one of these.

We noticed this “easter egg” in the health care bill when it happened, so did Politico. But the Washington Post is just now getting around to noticing. Harry Reid, who <sarcasm>was of course not worthy of an NRA endorsement</sarcasm>, got that put in there for us. The provision prevents the federal government from using doctors to create a database of gun owners. More broadly, it seems to prohibit the inclusion of information about gun ownership in medical records at all.

Hey, if you’re going to force government health care down our throats, everything becomes political. And I think a requirement like that is on better First Amendment grounds than the bill that gagged doctors from talking about gun ownership at all. The WaPo, however, is pretty obviously doing it’s part to try to discredit the NRA. But consider that this was sent by a reader who though this was a good catch on NRA’s part.

Article by Jeffery Goldberg appearing in Bloomberg’s publishing empire, debunking the myths of gun control. Take a careful look at “Myth No. 3” I think Bloomberg would be perfectly OK with conceding everything else that’s been thrown at us if he got a gun show loophole bill. I view their placing an article by Goldberg as an attempt to work that particular field while the President is busy doing his thing.

Glenn Reynolds summed it up best: “Divide, weaken, and rule.” Hey, it works for Chicago. It was only a matter of time before he executed this tactic on gun rights.

“[A] PR stunt that fools the gullible and easily deluded.” We also have to be concerned about a magazine ban, which is going to be floated a “reasonable compromise.” No.

According to ISRA:

Based on what we know about Cullerton’s bill, firearms that would be banned include all semiautomatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns.  Pump action shotguns would be banned as well.  This would be a very comprehensive ban that would include not only so-called “assault weapons” but also such classics as M1 Garands and 1911-based pistols.  There would be no exemptions and no grandfathering.  You would have a very short window to turn in your guns to the State Police to avoid prosecution.

They seem to be taking the tactic of “go big or go home,” and it’s incumbent on each and every one of us to ensure the latter is the result. This is their end game. Anyone who says they aren’t coming for your guns is a liar. They most certainly are where they think they can get away with it.

UPDATE: John Richardson, “You have to wonder just how committed to democracy and representative government are those politicians who would push for gun bans.” You also have to wonder what it says about the strength of their position, that they feel they have to spring this on us the day after a holiday so that there’s no time for debate. They know we can be a force once mobilized, so they are hoping to ram something through before the alarm is heard and responded to.

As we look forward with optimism dread for the new year, let us hope for the best. It is time for resolutions, and my public resolution to do what I can to stop what’s coming.

The ultimate problem of the Internet is that all politics is local, so calls for action on the Internet are important, but when it comes to stopping what’s coming our local clubs, gun shops, shooting ranges, gun shows, and shooting matches. I tend to think young people (and when I say young people, I’m including GenX) these local entities and have treated gun culture more as a product to be consumed rather than a form of civil society. The more the civil society aspect of the gun culture weakens, the weaker we get even though our numbers might be growing. This is the root cause of my worry in this current showdown with the White House and the far left, is that we’re winning the culture war, but in places that don’t as easily translate into political action.

I look at this coverage of a lone protester outside of a Denver gun show, and wonder how effective it might be for one or two of us to patrol the line to get in with signs that ask “Have you written your lawmaker yet?” or “Are you registered to vote?” That’s the kind of thing we need right now. I’m also thinking of ideas that might help translate Internet action into local action. I not only want to beat the gun control groups and the White House, I want to come out of this stronger than we went in so we have a platform on which we can build victory after victory.

Anyone still want to argue we aren’t in grave danger? The GOP can be counted on not to be counted on. I will join Glenn Reynolds call: we must be heard from.

UPDATE: From Glenn’s post, from one of his readers: “I have heard some talk that passage of new gun control would be a good thing for the Republicans, as it would lead to a repeat of the 1994 midterm elections. I am of the mind that it will only cause more voters that should rightly be in the GOP column to disengage.”

That’s exactly what’s happened to gun voters in New Jersey. They’ve just given up, because neither party will do anything for them. They are largely not a factor in politics in New Jersey. Does the GOP nationally just want to surrender a huge voting bloc? Personally, if the GOP throws us under the bus. I’m done with the issue. At that point it’s got to be a third party.

An assault weapons ban could come to Illinois as early as Wednesday:

Illinois Anti-Gun Legislators That YOU Voted Out of Office to Use Their Last Remaining Days in Legislature Exploiting Lame Duck Session and Holiday Break To Impose a Draconian Gun Ban.

Contact info here. We have to beat them back, everywhere.

Obama’s disapproval rating has jumped 5 points since Christmas.

h/t Instapundit

Doctors in the UK are seriously proposing banning kitchen knives. It’s the same attitude that drives gun control, they are just farther than that road than we are.