Category: Gun Rights

I think I took away a few lessons from last night’s contact with the enemy. Radnor was the first local township that has considered “Lost and Stolen” that we knew about ahead of time and had an opportunity to attend. Going in, I was thinking the following things would be the important points to stress.

• Preemption: That these ordinances are a violation of state law, and will end up costing the township money in costly lawsuits.
• Effectiveness: That these ordinances are unenforceable and there have been no prosecutions.
• Trickery: That CeaseFirePA are playing the township for fools, in part of a wider strategy of destroying preemption in Pennsylvania, and forcing the hand of the General Assembly.

I thought all the residents who got up to speak did an excellent job of making these points. I think we actually only had two non-residents address the Board, because the residents did a pretty thorough job of it. But in the end, I think my thinking, and everyone else’s on this matter, was probably giving the Radnor Township Board of Commissioners entirely too much credit; I think they had made up their mind, and I expect the opinion of the Township Solicitor to essentially back up the pre-ordained decision of the Board. In essence, preemption doesn’t matter to them. They could care less about it. They could also care less about their oaths to uphold the Constitution, because I’m sure in their minds they aren’t doing anything unconstitutional.

If there was any single concern that I would say was reflected the Board of Commissioners across the board it was that the Township was going to be sued, that enforcement of the ordinance was going to place burdens on the already cash strapped Township. Given that, I think I would change the emphasis in future fights to the following:

• Preemption: There were still a few board members concerned this ordinance was illegal, and that can help give cover for politicians to vote no. But it should be closely tied with the next point.
• Cost: The Township will be on the hook for paying for prosecutions under this ordinance, whereas the county and state picks up prosecution of state crimes. Enforcement of the will certainly bring a lawsuit. NRA has sued several municipalities for merely passing this.
• Distraction from Local Issues: One thing that should have been apparent to anyone there is this just isn’t an issue that local towns and communities really ought to be concerned with. Townships typically deal with zoning, remove snow, fix potholes, take care of parks, and other such local functions. Why does the Board want to waste their time with this sideshow? To help a radical activist group make a point to Harrisburg? Let them write their state reps! Let them lobby at the Capitol!

Commissioners seemed skeptical when CeaseFirePA mentioned that the Brady Campaign would pick up the tab for any lawsuits against the ordinance, and indicated they’d want it in writing. It’s my opinion the Bradys will be very reluctant to put anything into writing, so I think that’s a strategy to use going forward. Get your local politicians to demand that. If the Bradys don’t deliver, that’s another point, and it may start the politicians wondering whether the promise is worth anything. If they do put it in writing, our side always has the option of forcing Brady to spend large amounts of money they may or may not have by filing repeated lawsuits.

In short, I think the best strategy to try to defeat these ordinances is to have one or two people go up and talk about preemption, and have five or six residents residents, who don’t apparently look like NRA folks, go up and demand to know why their Township Board or Borough Council are wasting taxpayer time and money with something that’s the Pennsylvania General Assembly is supposed to take care of. That I think they care about. I don’t think they care about Supreme Court rulings, Tom Corbett’s opinion, or whether the ordinance is effective or enforceable. I think we were before a Board that had already made up its mind on those issues. But money is something every local politician worries about. I think we may be better off playing on that.

Looks like the kit is going to cost about $2600. Really? If I’m going to shell out that kind of money I’d really prefer a finished product, and I’m not sure I’d pay $2600 for a completed semi-auto SA-80 clone either. It should be perfectly legal to make a semi-auto SA-80 domestically in the US, but I wonder if they are concerned about the possibility of lawsuits.

Many thanks to all the activists and concerned citizens who showed up, and stayed until nearly midnight, at the Radnor Township Board of Commissioners meeting, where the Board introduced a “Lost and Stolen” ordinance in violation of state law. It’s not often you go to something like this and feel the issue was literally about as hashed out as you could really get it. I think out people there successfully made every point that needed to be made, and we had some very good speakers on behalf of the issue.

I will have more to say tomorrow, but for tonight I just wanted to thank everyone who showed up. While I think the Township Commissioners are intent on passing this ordinance, it will at least give some pause, and the opposition at least knows they aren’t going to waltz into these things unopposed. We were up against paid professionals, like Joe Grace, the well connected, like former Radnor Township Commissioner James Higgins, and also up against folks who have have had the advantage of alien enlightenment.

We win because our people are dedicated, and even in the heart of CeaseFirePA’s center of gravity, we were fairly able to match them in numbers, and in passion. We need to keep turning out, and if not outright beating them, at least making them fight for it.

One wonders if the Brady Campaign would find this a great example about how there are no cultural or intolerance overtones in the gun debate. Quoting from the Oakland East Palo Alto officer:

Sounds like you had someone practicing their 2nd amendment rights last night! Should’ve pulled out the AR and prone them all out! And if one of them made a furtive movement… 2 weeks off!!!

The last thing being code for “shoot the bastard.” I don’t care what you think about open carry, this is not an appropriate response to citizens engaging in a perfectly lawful form of protest over California’s unreasonable and discretionary carry laws. Is an attitude like this, as the Brady’s say, “not hatred for people with guns?” Is this just concern “calling for a gun violence prevention safety net.”

I have no problem with an officer exercising reasonable care when approaching armed persons, but I’m fairly certain in most other states, officers are trained in how to do this without having to prone and threaten every armed person they come across. In most other states, this would, in fact, rise to the level of a civil rights lawsuit.

… as the California of the South.

Thanks to Joe Huffman for this one, from a friend of his who is a convert from the other side:

Back in the days when I was very anti-gun, I tended to think of “gun nuts” as drooling, knuckle-dragging morons. Cavemen. Uneducated. Beer-drinking slobs who could barely read and who probably beat up their wives a lot. Maybe they were even all closet Nazis, eh? Etc., etc., etc. It was an image that came instantly to mind. I would talk about “gun nuts” that same way with friends of like mind. It all made such perfect sense to us.

But if ever I came across a “gun nut” in person I would be silent — especially if it was someone dressed in, say, hunting cammos. Or I might see “gun nuts” on TV and make a snide comment about them, but seeing them made me feel a bit afraid (something I didn’t reveal to other people). It wasn’t rational, but it wasn’t surprising considering how I’d been raised. It wasn’t until a long time later that I realized what I’d been doing: trying to make the “gun nuts” almost into sub-humans in my mind, and paint them as ridiculous and stupid so that they shrank in stature and were less scary to me. (But as I said, this doesn’t work. No amount of sneering made me feel less afraid.)

I have no doubt that some small percentage of “gun people” (those few who are outright fascistically-minded) “deserve” every bit of fear I had for them — then and now. But for crying out loud . . . what a stupid, prejudicial way to think about an entire group of people, with no distinctions made. It took some years to realize what a big lie there was in imagining myself enlightened and non-bigoted — all the while that I’d been thinking like a garden-variety bigot. That was one of the fun things about the ’60s and ’70s: You could fantasize that you were on a higher plane of consciousness than “those” people — and be every bit as bigoted and vicious as you thought they were. You didn’t have to hold yourself accountable, nor wonder if you weren’t being two-faced about it. By definition, as a more “enlightened” person, you didn’t have any of those problems. Only other people had such problems. It was all so convenient . . .

Yet we’re told this has nothing to do with “bigotry” or “culture.” Nothing at all you see. Both Joe and I have insisted that it does. Then you have stories like this in the comments:

In many ways the bigotry in Chicago is malevolent. Many gun owners I have met keep silent in fear. Not simply fear of arrest, but fear of being stigmatized, ostracized, fired from their jobs.

And their fears are not unfounded. Attempts have been made to get people fired for airing their views. CAGE (Chicago gun enforcement team) has used Chicago’s registration scheme to confiscate otherwise legal firearms in the past.

Not the first time I’ve heard people getting in trouble at work for being gun owners. Not carrying a gun to work, or some other behavioral issue, merely talking about their interests to coworkers. The Brady’s almost seem to be saying “nothing personal, you know.” but most of our experiences bear this out, as well as a number of commenters who insist that yes, they are as bad as the KKK. Even if I don’t agree with that, the anger is real, deep seeded, and completely justified. Americans shouldn’t have to hide in shame because they choose to exercise their constitutional rights. Because many feel they need to, thanks in part to our wonderful gun control groups, there’s plenty of anger out there, and it shouldn’t be surprising that we’re willing to channel that into beating back this cultural condescension.

A reminder for folks who might live in or near Radnor Township, that the Township Board of Commissioners will be considering passing a “Lost and Stolen” ordinance in clear violation of statewide preemption. See this alert from NRA listing the contact information for all the Radnor Township Commissioners.

The commissioners are being played by radical anti-gun activists, in the form of CeaseFire PA and Mayors Against Illegal Guns. This is part of a long term agenda to destroy preemption in the Commonwealth. These ordinances are illegal and ineffective, as there has not been a single criminal charge under any of these. I would urge anyone who lives nearby to show up at tonight’s meeting in support of the opposition to this proposed ordinance. There are activists who are planning to be there, but every warm body counts for something, even if you don’t want to get up and speak. You can download the ordinances here.

Philadelphia’s local NPR station made absolutely no effort to get our position on the “Florida Loophole.”

Tam on loopholes:

Later on, I will exploit the Carbon Footprint Loophole to take my Mass Transit Loophole to the Starving The Poor People Loophole and get some Unhealthy Food Loophole for dinner.

I wanted this to be the quote of the day yesterday, but yesterday I already had a quote of the day.