Word is that the San Francisco gun ban is dead letter. The California Supreme Court has spoken. Good news. At least until they repeal preemption in The Golden State.
Category: Gun Rights
Banning Guns in Polling Places
After the Greg Rotz incident, there was a movement by certain Franklin County officials to convince the legislature ban guns in polling places in Pennsylvania. I’m glad to see that is going nowhere fast. Philly would have just passed and enforced it as an ordinance, preemption be damned!
By the way, Gun Truth is Greg Rotz’s blog. We welcome him to blogging and wish him success.
UPDATE: More here
Sportsmen for Obama
I would have thought we gun bloggers should have crushed this meme successfully, but we haven’t. Look a this.
Today, our campaign announced the membership of our Pennsylvania Sportsmen and Sportswomen for Obama Steering Committee. Avid hunters and anglers from around the state, the committee members lauded Obama for his understanding of and respect for Pennsylvania’s hunting and fishing traditions and his strong record on conservation.
Oh, you mean protecting hunting and fishing by shutting down most of this Nation’s gun shops? Or by screwing pistol hunters by banning their firearms? Or by banning all semi-automatic firearms? Is that how he supports hunting and fishing? By voting against a bill to prevent gun manufacturers from being sued out of business by cities like Obama’s home of Chicago?
Let’s see who the Democrats are who are going to actively help dupe their fellow Pennsylvanians into thinking Barack Obama is their friend:
Frederica (Freddie) Antram, Paul Antram, Michael Aumiller, Arnold Brion, Robin Cole, John Fetterman, State Rep. Marc Gergely, Scott Harrison, Terry Havener, Kenny Jackson, Jeff Knisely, Richard Lanzoni, Tom Maglicco, Steve Naylor, Joe Rossi, Brian Stoltz, Dominic Surra, State Rep. Dan Surra.
These are individuals and politicians who are putting party above principles. Let’s make sure that no one buys the snake oil they are selling about Obama.
End of Preemption in California?
Jeff Soyer reports of an effort to end preemption in California, since it’s been successfully used to toss San Francisco’s ban on guns. There are many laws that are properly done at the state level, and regulation of firearms is one of those. Surely the laws of #1 Brady Campaign ranked State of California aren’t inadequate?
“California is one of the leading states in gun control legislation, so yes, I think this bill could be model legislation that other states would look into to address the gun violence problem.” – Armando Viramontes, Legislative Aide to Berkeley Assemblywoman Loni Hancock
They’ll never stop. No law will be adequate until you’re disarmed, dead, or doing time.
A Tale of Two City Papers
It’s nice that we actually get factual reporting out of the Pittsburgh media. The Philadelphia Inqurer coverage was not as good:
Yesterday morning, gun owners crammed the Capitol Rotunda for their annual “Right to Bear Arms” rally and lobby day, vowing to launch voter-registration drives ahead of the November elections and to defeat pro-gun-control lawmakers.
Dressed in NRA caps, camouflage jackets and even Revolutionary War uniforms, about 200 sportsmen and firearms owners cheered speakers, among them Rep. Daryl D. Metcalfe (R., Butler), who assailed Gov. Rendell and his “gun-confiscating conspirators,” urging participants to “fire” lawmakers who supported gun-control measures.
There was one guy dressed in a costume, and he was part of the rally, not some random nut playing dress up. I recall seeing no one in camouflage. There were a few NRA hats, but big deal.
Looks like a normal bunch of people to me, many of whom are in suits. The Inquirer can barely hide their contempt for us through their lame attempts at factual reporting. The Inky closes with a statement from CeaseFire PA:
Joe Grace, executive director of CeaseFirePA, said raffling off a handgun in the state Capitol was insensitive to victims of gun violence.
“It’s unfortunate considering the hundreds of victims of handgun violence in this state,” said Grace. “It makes light of such a serious issue.”
Joe Grace is entitled to his opinion, but the capitol is everyone’s, and whether he likes it or not, he has to share this state, and its capitol, with people who value the right to bear arms, and don’t see guns as symbols of violence.
Tigher Gun Control
As many as 320,000 guns for hunting and sporting competitions are legally owned in Japan. Within the five years leading up to 2007, there were 19 cases of murder or attempted murder involving legally owned firearms.
Also fresh in our memory is an incident in which a rifle accidentally went off at a doctor’s house in Tokyo, killing a 2-year-old child.
I’m actually surprised there’s that many in legal possession. But still, 20 incidents out of 320,000? The interesting thing is they are tightening their requirements for rifles and shotguns to look more like ours.
The law revisions are aimed at broadening the scope of these disqualification clauses. Past offenders of stalking crimes and domestic violence as well as those who committed heinous offenses without guns will be barred from owning firearms. It goes without saying that such people should never be allowed to own guns.
I would have figured they already had their own “Lautenberg”. But before you go thinking this measure will be enough.
We think the system should be changed so that guns and ammunition are not controlled by individuals, but stored in specified locations except for those occasions when they are to be used. If a firearm is not in constant proximity, it would be difficult to use it rashly in a fit of rage.
The NPA did consider this idea, but shelved it on grounds it is too difficult to implement at this stage. This is because existing gun depositories can store only 30,000 guns.
Because the people who own these things are obviously steaming kettles just waiting to boil over. Centralized storage is something I’ve heard from gun phobic people here as well. Fortunately, it’s very impractical, but you do hear it.
After the Sasebo shooting, more than 5,000 people throughout the country returned their gun ownership permits voluntarily. In some cases, the police persuaded registered owners to return their permits, citing reasons such as “problems with neighbor” or “advanced age.” A systematic structure is necessary to catch the warning signs of someone likely to commit a crime, and revoking gun permits even after they have been issued.
It’s a very different culture, for sure. One where the needs of society are put before the rights of the individual, and where individuals can be shamed out of gun ownership. It is not America’s culture. It should never be America’s culture.
First Class and No Class
After we had our rally in the Capitol Rotunda, we split into groups to go around visiting representatives. I went off with the PAFOA group, lead by Kim Stolfer, Chairman of Firearms Owners Against Crime. We did go around to several representatives, both to pro-gun, to offer them our thanks for their support, and anti-gun, to air out areas of disagreement, and to make sure they understand that the gun lobby isn’t some nefarious cabal, but is made up of real people, who are willing to take days off work to defend their liberties.
Several of the anti-gun representatives weren’t in, but I did want to point out that Representative Angel Cruz, who we have much to disagree with, took the time to invite us into his office and listen to our concerns. Given the nonsense from certain Constitution Party bozos at last year’s rally, it was very classy of Representative Cruz to engage with us as reasonable people. Cruz stated he is concerned that certain judges in the Philadelphia court system don’t seem to want to get tough with criminals in that city, and this is a concern that we very much share. We may not agree on the gun issue, but Cruz is correct that judges’ unwillingness to send violent people to prison for a long time is a significant part of the problem. Earlier this evening I sent Rep. Cruz an e-mail:
I was part of the group today that attended Rep. Metcalfe’s Second Amendment Rally that you met with briefly in your office. I wanted to thank you for taking the time to meet with us. It speaks highly of your character that you were willing to invite us into your office to hear our concerns.
Many of us, especially those like me who regularly venture into the City of Philadelphia, are very concerned about getting violent crime there under control, and though we may disagree on much about how to combat it, I do hope there are things we can do to help the City that we can all agree on. Thanks again.
Representative Cruz’s character is very sharply contrasted with that of Representative Babette Josephs, who we heard berated a group of gun rights supporters because she was angry that we raffled off a gun in the capitol. Well, for one, we didn’t raffle off a gun. A gun was donated by Ace Sporting Goods, and the winner of the drawing received a voucher to go to Ace, fill out the various forms and affidavits, submit to the background check through the Pennsylvania Instant Check System, and then, only if cleared as being legal to own a gun in Pennsylvania and under Federal Law, may they take possession of said firearm. But apparently that is not good enough for Representative Josephs. We raffled a gun in her capitol! Having heard of this incident, myself and a group of other members of the Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Assocation decided to pay Representative Josephs a friendly visit, to explain to her exactly what had taken place on The Rotunda, lest there be any confusion that we actually had a gun in the Capitol building in violation of state law. The Representative was not in, but upon trying to explain the situation to one of her staff, we were promptly asked to leave.
I do not live in Representative Josephs’ district, only near it, but I am not an unreasonable person. I understand many of the Philadelphia delegation feel they are representing the interests of their districts by pushing for gun control. I disagree strongly with them on this, but that is their belief. It’s only through a free and frank dialog with elected representatives that a free Republic can function, and it’s distrubing that there are parts of Pennsylvania that are willing to elect a representative who will have none of that.
While I may disagree with Representative Cruz on many things, I can maintain respect for him because of his willingness to hear us out, and talk to us as reasonable people. For Representative Josephs, I can have no such respect, and sincerely hope the people of her district will choose to send someone to Harrisburg who will demonstrate the kind of professionalism we should demand from people we elect to serve us.
Press Coverage of Rally
From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Gun owners are “fed up” that the state isn’t fully enforcing laws on the books against criminals buying or using firearms, said Kim Stolfer of McDonald, chairman of Firearms Owners Against Crime and an activist with the Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League.
“We’re not going to allow them to enact more (restrictive) gun laws,” Stolfer said.
No, we’re not. Even the anti-gun reps we managed to talk to I believe realize they can’t get anything done in this state without running it by those of us who support second amendment rights. But that is not something to be taken for granted; it’s only achieved by hard work and sacrifice of people who are able and willing to demand it’s protection.
Gun Free Zone
One of the few restrictions on carry in Pennsylvania is that there are no guns permitted in court houses, and our state capitol is a court house, because it houses the Supreme Court:
Empty holster courtesey of Greg Rotz. You remember him right?
The Real Gun Guys
Photo snapped of several of myself and some other PAFOA guys in Harrisburg today, just outside the capitol rear entrance. I didn’t pose open carrying for the pic because I didn’t check my side arm with the Capitol Police, so I didn’t have it on me upon leaving.
A better looking bunch of gun nuts you’ll not see too many other places ;)Â From left to right, using forum names, as best as I can remember:
Doug, Myself, Pro2a, JDePietro, PA Patriot, and Gnbrotz
A fun bunch of gun guys to go activisting with, I do say.
UPDATE: A friend of mine chastizes my fashion sense, assuming that I have any to begin with.  To my credit, I realized my outfit was suboptimal, but at my workplace, every day is casual friday. I dress up pretty much never, and I was dismayed to find out that my shirts no longer fit because I’m getting too fat, so I didn’t have much to work with.