Breitbart: “Congressional Study: Murder Rate Nearly Halved from 1994 as Gun Ownership Soared” It’s almost like more guns != more crime. Not just nationally either. It’s almost like when ordinary people can more easily arm themselves, the criminals no longer feel they can rule the streets.
Category: Gun Rights
UFA Extension Passes House
The UFA extension, that only takes the expiration date out another 10 years, has passed the House on a voice vote, meaning no one objected enough to call for a recorded vote. That’s basically the equivalent of it passing unanimously. I agree with John that renewal was a fore drawn conclusion. It’s Schumer’s games that we need to be prepared to fight on. Now they have a choice: they can either pass the House extension, or be seen playing political games with renewal, in which case nothing gets passed and the UFA expires.
Roll Call has an article about it here. NRA has issued a release stating that expansion of the UFA is not what’s up in the House right now, and they will oppose any expansion.
Massachusetts Gun License Delays
The issue of Massachusetts gun licensing delays is getting attention from non-gun sources, and they highlight the reports of nearly 1,000 gun owners who have had their licenses delayed past the point of the state breaking its own laws.
The article highlights a Senate Democrat who notes that this squarely falls on the shoulders of the Deval Patrick administration, and they include the fact that Attorney General Martha Coakley is refusing to investigate why the state government is violating the law, nor will her office even answer public questions on the matter.
Sadly, this isn’t new to Massachusetts gun owners. The government there has had a history of delaying licenses that are needed in order to continue lawfully possessing your guns. It was an issue when I lived there and had to get my gun license.
Halbrook on Historic Gun Registries
National Review posted a column from Stephen Halbrook that comes from his latest book that looks at how German gun registry laws were used to disarm political opponents and Jews around World War II. What I find most interesting is that in less than 36 hours, it’s already generated more than 500 comments. Clearly, it’s a topic that gets people talking and reading.
Reality and Perception
The Washington Post is busy helping the antis drive the perception that gun control won them Virginia, or at the least didn’t hurt them. In politics, perception is just as important as reality, so as long as they can make the powers that be believe what they say is true, it doesn’t honestly matter if it’s not. Did Al Gore really lose over his position on gun control? That’s the perception. It doesn’t matter if it was true or not. I think often time our side sees the lie and assumes everyone else will see it too. Here’s the spin the Post is offering:
The National Rifle Association ran commercials against Herring, but its messages were directed at voters who our own polling showed were never accessible to Herring. The NRA avoided the largest concentrations of swing voters in the Northern Virginia, Norfolk and Richmond markets. That is not a recipe for growth or success.
What they are arguing, essentially, is that the gun vote are already baked into the GOP numbers. In other words, the Democrat has nothing to fear on gun rights, because those votes were never really up for grabs anyway. As someone who has pulled the D lever before, in order to punish the GOP for their stances on certain issues, I can at least personally say that’s not true for me. I might be willing to vote for a pro-gun Democrat against Corbett, who seems to be just about as good at raising my taxes as Ed Rendell was. But the gun issue will likely keep me in Corbett’s corner in 2014.
The other side is now driving the perception that gun control is a winning issue for Democrats, whereas up until very recently, it was seen as a toxic issue. This is not a good place to be in, if they are successful. We will lose our rights if we remain here, because you can’t count on one party to control everything all of the time, and it will only be a matter of time before the GOP realizes they can, once again, get away with just not being as bad as the other guy. The Democrats have to be punished severely in 2014 for their stance in favor of gun control. This should lock them out of certain states and regions.
EPA Creating Lead Shortage?
Come 2014, all ammunition sold to civilian gun-owners in America will have to be imported, a result of President Obama’s crackdown on sulfur dioxide and lead emissions and accompanying harsh Environmental Protection Agency regulations, said former Florida congressman, Lt. Col. Allen West.
Well, any lead that comes from ore will be imported, not necessarily the ammunition. From what I understand about the lead market, the vast majority of lead consumed comes from recycled sources. In other words, you spend a typical day at the range shooting mostly old car batteries, wheel weights, etc down your barrel. Granted, I don’t think relying on imported lead is a good thing, but I also don’t think it’s necessarily something to panic over either.
UFA Renewal Up for Consideration
Looks like this proposal would extend the law for another ten years. Introduced by Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC). Who I’d note carries an A rating from NRA and GOA. There’s no constituency to prevent an extension of the UFA. We’ll see what happens once this hits the Dem controlled Senate.
UPDATE: Note that the bill can be found here. It’s straight up extension for ten years. None of Schumer or Israel’s bullshit. Other blogs are reporting that a UFA expansion bill is up for consideration. Israel’s Bill is still listed as only being introduced. It hasn’t even been referred to a committee.
Post-Holiday Link Dump
It was nice to take a break from blogging over the holiday as well, but I still keep track of everything so I don’t miss any real big news.
Why we oppose registration. There have been numerous instances if it being used to facilitate confiscation in this country. It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you. More here.
Sheriffs in Colorado don’t have standing to sue over the recent gun control laws. This doesn’t kill the case, however.
Fortunately, I did not encounter any MAIG placemats this Thanksgiving.
Uncle makes a prediction on a new Glock. I hope he’s right.
A civilian legal G36? Looks better than the previous attempt.
NSSF is considering leaving Newtown. I wouldn’t stay where I’m not welcome.
Evolving Christian attitudes towards personal and national defense.
What Can be Attached to UFA Renewal?
A good argument is happening in the comment section about the kinds of things that could possibly be attached to UFA renewal. Some things to keep in mind in that regard.
The Senate is still controlled by Democrats. If you start playing those games, you open up the possibility that our House additions get stripped off, and then they start trying to make their own additions. You’re also opening up the very real possibility that it escalates to big fight in the Senate on gun control. I don’t think MAIG and Brady have had any real success flipping votes on Manchin-Toomney, despite a lot of blustering, but I don’t really want to find out. Â How confident are we that when Schumer floats the restrictions on hobbyists doing gun smithing at home, that we’ll get 40 Senators who will to stand up to him? How confident are we that the “nuclear option” won’t come into play, and they can pass it with only 51 votes? How much do we trust the conference committee process that will work out the differences between the House and Senate versions?
We cannot attach anything to legislation. You have to have friendly politicians willing to go out on a limb to do that. It presumes that we have friends in the GOP who are willing to go out on that limb over the UFA. I don’t think we do. Certainly no more than we have GOP friends willing to get out on the “Repeal the NFA” limb. They aren’t going to risk a flight on the issue.
Everything is a political calculation. There are scarce few politicians in any legislative body that are true friends because they share our ideology. The vast majority are our friends because it is in their self-interest to be our friends. Even with the ones that are ideological friends, they still understand politics is a game. No office holder wants to start playing weak hands. There might be a chance of stopping UFA, but if it happens, it’s only because Congress is completely dysfunctional. They weren’t willing to play this card in 2003, so it’s hard to see why they’d want to now. That’s largely why I’d rather dig my heels in over Chuck Schumer and Steve Israel’s expansion proposals. If UFA is going to die as a whole, it’s either going to do so quietly, or it’s going to do so because the Democrats overreached and poisoned the well.
Still a Great Victory for Colorado Gun Owners
Despite the fact that it appears Evie Hudak is going to preemptively resign in order to preserve Democratic control over the Senate, her resignation is still a significant victory for Colorado gun owners. She would still have her seat had the pressure not been applied. No politician wants to be faced with the loss of a seat, and I view her preemptive resignation as an act of desperation on the part of Colorado Democrats. It is indeed time to focus on 2014. If Colorado gun owners truly seek repeal, the current Democratic leadership, who gladly sold the state to the interests of the Obama Administration and the Mayor of New York City, has to be replaced.
At the very least, now having three heads makes it unlikely Colorado Democrats will seek to embrace more gun control for the foreseeable future. Hickenlooper would be a choice prize himself. I don’t know how possible that is, but unfortunately the Colorado GOP has a habit of backing lackluster candidates.