Category: Gun Rights

Reason Magazine looks at the debate about Open Carry in California:

The best part of the interview is State Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, who’s sponsoring the bill to ban open carry. “You don’t need a license to carry an unloaded handgun in public, and that’s a loophole!” To him freedom =  loophole. You can also tell that his main objection to guns is completely aesthetic, given his characterization of carry is taking California back to the past, and not wanting guns in “Main Street California”

Hat Tip to Instapundit

The New York Post writes an article on the last taxidermist operating in New York City:

He practices his old-fashioned craft in a dusty Brooklyn storefront called the Cypress Hills Taxidermy Studio, where the stuffed deer, boars and pheasants on the walls are reminiscent of an era when hunting was still popular enough that even the Big Apple had several taxidermy shops.

“It kind of makes me feel special that I’m the only one left, like I’m the last dinosaur,” said Youngaitis, 57.

The article goes on to speak of his need to moonlight as a plumber to make ends meet. This is not shocking, because New York City makes it difficult to impossible to own a firearm. I was once at a gun show in PA, and ended up in the line for paperwork behind a guy from New York City, who was just trying to buy a 10/22. Took him a while to find a dealer willing to process that transaction, and seemed to involve some extra phone calls on the part of the dealer, I’m guessing to verify the permit to purchase. By the time this guy was at the dealer buying the gun, most of the grueling work had already been done. All he would have left to do is register the firearm with the NYPD when he returned (if you buy from a New York City dealer, they will do this for you).

But their target isn’t hunting, which has traditionally been the only sport our opponents concede is a legitimate reason to own a gun. Yet a city of 8 million people can’t even support a full time taxidermist, due to the laws they support.

Well, not much longer. One of the greatly satisfying things to watch with Second Amendment litigation is the strong possibility we will lay waste to New York City’s gun laws, and send them into the dustbin of history where they belong. I’m not sure that’s going to help Mr. Youngaitis’s business quickly enough to matter, but I leave you with the words of Justice Scalia:

I grew up at a time when people were not afraid of people with firearms. I used to travel on the subway from Queens to Manhattan with a rifle. Could you imagine doing that today in New York City?

No, I can’t. But that’s going to change.

Chicago is now forced to register SKS rifles.

Could be a big day for gun rights in the Land of Lincoln:

“We have a very strong case,” Todd Vandermyde, a NRA lobbyist, said. “When you look at some of the briefs that have been filed by the state and attorney general and some of the arguments they are trying to make, I think it is clear they are very, very nervous.”

Vandermyde specifically pointed to an argument made Madigan’s office that since the state doesn’t outlaw openly carrying a loaded gun outside of cities, towns and other incorporated parts of counties, there is not full scale prohibition.

Madigan’s argument would appear to be very weak here, as I don’t think it’s ever been considered that Illinois law allows carry outside the home under any circumstances. Even if it did, it seems odd to argue there’s a right to carry outside of cities and towns, but no concurrent right to carry in them. What other constitutional right is interpreted to work that way?

That’s the question being asked by the Vancouver Sun. I don’t really get how the answer is yes. If you’re using the registry to trace a gun, doesn’t that imply someone was already shot with it? Looks like advocates of the registry in Canada are now pointing out that if the registry is lifted, guns like the Ruger Mini-14, that horrific killing machine used in Norway, wouldn’t have to be registered.

Umm…. wasn’t Breivik’s Mini-14 registered, with all the proper paperwork? Hate to tell you folks, but pieces of paper don’t stop bullets.

NRA filed suit today in the long gun reporting requirement for border state FFLs. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of Arizona FFLs, in District Court in the DC circuit. My understanding is that if you are going to file suit against the federal government, you can either sue in the state, circuit and district where the plaintiff’s reside, or you can sue the federal government where it resides.

There is some precedent that would apparently seem to give a lot of leeway to demand letters. Pretty clearly the Administration wants to see how far this hobby horse can be ridden, even to the point of implementing something clearly illegal.

Chris from Arma Borealis notes that the Canadians are cracking down, and notes how difficult this makes it for Americans to get their guns to Alaska.

UPDATE: See this Canadian legal resource for a guide to Canadian gun laws for Americans.

Didn’t take long:

“This terrorist took the lives of innocent people, including many children, and it’s outrageous that flaws in America’s gun laws may have helped him carry out such a horrific crime,” said Senator Lautenberg.  “Our country cannot be the weapons depot for terrorists and criminals here at home and around the world.  High-capacity magazines are built to shoot and kill people quickly, and they do not belong in the consumer marketplace.”

I wasn’t aware magazines were built to shoot and kill people quickly. I wasn’t aware they were built to shoot at all. Here all along I did not realize a box with a spring and follower in it was a highly refined killing machine.

One thing I can say, I’m tired of writing either formal cover letters, or formal e-mails that serve the purpose of a cover letter. It takes me minutes to bang out most medium length blog posts, because I do little proofreading and refining. Cover letters have to be as close to perfect as possible, and I go over them with a fine tooth comb, then have Bitter go over them with a fine tooth comb.

The one aspect I find very difficult is balancing possible offers. Right now I have no offers on the table, but several leads. One lead I have an interview scheduled for, and am very optimistic about. It’s going to be a pay cut because I’d be moving to an academic environment. The job is a step up in title, however. The other lead, which I developed just this morning, is well within my skills, but it’s a gig with a consulting company. It is also a pay cut, but seems to be coming in about the same level as the academic position, is not a step up in title, but well within my set of skills. The third lead is a long shot, but a dream job with a very well known and well respected company. I had a fourth lead, but found out today, after a phone interview, they didn’t think I had the skills they needed.

The quandary is, do you just try to go as fast as possible to an offer, any offer, or do you hold out for the job you think you really want? This is an easy answer when you already have a job; you hold out for the job you really want. When you’re unemployed, that’s a much harder decision. I’m doing my best to try to synchronize the process as much as possible. I think it comes down to this: I won’t turn down an offer on the table, that I’m mostly satisfied with, for a long shot at an offer I’d be very happy with. But I may turn down an offer I’m only mostly satisfied with for a pretty good chance at an offer I’m happy with.

Salary negotiation for the unemployed is tough, though. I expected any job not with my previous employer was going to be a salary cut. Our company was unstable for several years, and they could not afford to lose me. I was paid a pretty good risk premium for sticking it out. It’s looking increasingly likely I will not be able to make that back in a new job. Everything I’ve been looking at, except the jobs in New York City, are a 20% cut in my previous salary. Jobs in New York City pay better, but it’s about a 20% premium that needs to be added to those jobs to cover commuting and New York State taxes, which are, to put it mildly, insane.

I have little doubt I’ll find something by the end of the summer, it’s just going to be a question of whether I get something I really enjoy, or have to settle. Salary cut is already largely a given, and that’s painful, but I’d hate to get paid less for a job I hate.

UPDATE: Just got word the lead I developed today evaporated just as quickly. It was short term contract work that would not result in full time employment. I’m still turning down contract work right now, but that could change in a few weeks.

Already being felt in Scandinavia. Even though the Swedish media is suggesting their gun laws would have stopped the mass killer, Sweden is still looking at tightening it’s laws. Finland was already on its way to doing so, and is now following through, with handgun sales plummeting as the new law takes effect.

We watchful of the gun control proponents, who don’t want to ban guns, by the way, speaking enthusiastically about how much more common sense Europeans have for implementing common sense laws, while America continues to do nothing.