Category: Gun Rights

The Tenneessee Senate has overriden the Governor’s veto, which makes me wonder what the Governor thought he had to gain?  Where are the folks cheering Governor Breseden’s “common sense?”  In fact, given that there were more votes for the override, it seems to me the Governor is losing friends.

When we were on our way down to Texas a few years ago, we stopped in to meet with SayUncle and the Instafamily at a local eatery.  Had to leave the guns in the car, even though neither of us had anything to drink.  Now, where do you think a gun is more likely to cause trouble: on the person who carries it, or in a glove box where someone could steal it?

People with concealed carry licenses will be permitted to carry in vehicles on school and college campuses.  Not quite campus carry, but some progress.

Joe Huffman takes on a notion, promoted by the former Attorney General of Maryland, that handguns have no sporting use.  This Sunday is our monthly IHMSA match, which I suppose doesn’t qualify as a sport in the mind of Joseph Curran.

I’m hearing word that the veto override of the restaurant carry bill passed the TN house 69-27. It now goes on to the Senate.

UPDATE: Yep

UPDATE: Looks like they are setting up Bredesen on the whole “alcohol and guns do not mix” by sending him the same bill, only exempting police officers while off duty.  Presumably the officers also would not be permitted to consume alcohol, while off duty and armed, right?   Let’s see if the powers that be think some people are more equal than others.

Jacob reports that it’s making progress.  NRA would appear to be robocalling New York members to get them to oppose the bill.  Meanwhile, Reasoned Discourse continues.

UPDATE: Tom King talks about Reasoned Discourse too.

Criminologist Gary Kleck has an excellent study that was just published on the topic.

Days of our Trailers reports that House Bill 182, which appears to carve out exceptions for having a concealed firearm on private property that you’ve been invited to, has passed the House and is now headed to the Governor.  That’s an exception even Pennsylvania doesn’t have.  Technically speaking, you need a License to Carry to have a concealed handgun in someone else’s home as a guest, though there is an exception for domiciles.

Dave Kopel has an excellent tounge-in-cheek article on this topic.

The GOP is pissed the NRA isn’t jumping in head first battling, taking the position:

But a spokesman for the organization said it’s staying on the sidelines for now.

“Right now we have a lot of concerns and questions and we hope to have those addressed during the confirmation hearing and throughout the process,” said Andrew Arulanandam, an NRA spokesman. “As far as our actions, we reserve the right to do anything based on what we find out.

“All options are on the table,” he added. “As we speak today, we’re waiting for the confirmation process. A research team is looking into her record on our issue.”

No doubt they are also going to be taking a close look at the possible alternatives that would come behind Sotomayor if she is rejected by the Senate.  Jim Shepherd thinks she ought to be fought:

Fresh off the win for concealed carry in federal parks, it seems the pro-gun groups are content to take the short-term victory, and let what looks like a losing battle pass without any pushback whatsoever on Judge Sotomayor. This is despite the fact that she has consistently been anti-gun in her decisions. Even in a decidedly thin body of work, her position on firearms has been clear – she’s again’ em for “average folks”

I am not sure Sotomayor is the worst we could get.  She is a political choice, meaning she’s intended to please constituencies in the Democratic Party.  From the point of view of left-wing legal theory, there are greater legal minds Obama could have picked for the seat, even if it was his intention to nominate a woman.  There’s no doubt in my mind that Sotomayor will be a reliable leftist vote on the court, but I don’t think she’ll be an intellectual leader, in the way Justice Stevens has been for example.

My worry in scuttling Sotomayor is what’s behind her, waiting in the wings if she’s not confirmed.  Given that, I think caution is prudent.  The best we could hope to get out of this administration is that Obama digs up someone who hasn’t said much or anything about the Second Amendment, and they say the right things during the confirmation process.   That, however, is no guarantee they’ll be a pro-gun vote on The Court.  In the philosophy of the left-wing legal establishment, there is no room for an individual right to bear arms.  That cuts to the heart their very collectivist core.  For that reason, I don’t believe we will get a pro-gun Justice out of President Obama, no matter what we do.

The key to saving the Heller majority is ensuring that Barack Obama is a one term president, and I don’t care if that means I have to vote and volunteer for Mitt “The Sh*t” Romney.  When the greater evil is an unashamed socialist, any lesser one will do.

UPDATE: See this article by Patrick Ruffini.  I think he makes a good case for fighting her nomination, but correctly points out:

Supreme Court fights are inherently elite D.C. fights. Don’t expect voters, even Latino voters, to passionately engage. Most people correctly perceive the Court as being far removed and even irrelevant to their daily life and whether they will keep their job — and that’s as it should be. Has there ever been a mass movement for or against a Court nominee, even a Thurgood Marshall, a Sandra Day O’Connor, or a Clarence Thomas?

I think that’s actually a significant problem for the pro-gun movement, with these kinds of nomination fights.  Getting the grass roots fired up (and no, a handful of people on the Internet does not constitute the grass roots.  People who read blogs, forums, etc, actually tend to be more in the “elite” crowd discussed here.) is a particular problem.  Also keep in mind that Ruffini is speaking from a GOP point of view, and I’m speaking as a single issue activist that has to work with Democrats to survive in this Congress.  I agree with Ruffini that the GOP, and gun rights folks, can’t just roll over on Sotomayor’s record, but at the end of the day, there’s other considerations as to whether arms get twisted on the eventual vote.