Guns – Page 1001 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Congressional Amicus Brief in Favor of Heller

NRA has a list of Congressman and Senators who have signed on. Compare it to the list of Congressman and Senators from the Congressional brief on DC’s side, and it’s almost laughable.

I would note that John McCain has signed onto this brief. I would also note that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama have signed on. Anyone still willing to say there’s no difference between McCain and those two?

Both Pennsylvania Senators have signed on. I notice that my Congressman, Pat Murphy, has not. He may have a concealed carry license, but if he wants my support, he has to do better than this. He’ll be getting a letter about this for sure. If your local Congress Critter is not on here, you should also send a letter asking why.

UPDATE: See “Rep. Tom Davis (VA-11)” Maybe his wife’s defeat running on a gun control platform has caused him to see the light.

UPDATE: I’m told that, in his capacity as President of the Senate, Vice President Cheney will be signing onto the brief as well.

Welcome to the Triangle

To Robb Allen, at Sharp as a Marble. I can remember my first wheelbarrow full of cash, about a year ago. I had to send it back actually, because the bills in it looked like old bills that someone had put under an iron in an attempt to make them appear new, and I had insisted that they be neat, clean, new unmarked bills, fresh from the NRA vault-o-cash.

So that’s my bit of advice to Robb. Don’t let the NRA stick you with bills from their money laundering operation. Insist on clean, fresh, and unmarked. Also, don’t let them stick you with the wheelbarrow that has the squeaky wheel. Make someone grease is up first, but not too much that you risk getting it all over the money.

Courting the Gun Makers

Red’s trading post has a bit up about Idaho’s efforts to court gun makers. I’m sure Idaho is also a good state to do business in, in addition to having reasonable gun laws. Idaho has some other states to compete with, however.Â There’s very little chance Pennsylvania would ever see any of this action.

While our gun laws are not bad, from a manufacturing point of view, our business climate is terrible, and it’s one of the worst states in the country in which to set up a manufacturing operation. Plus, you can bet that Fast Eddie Rendell won’t be offering any tax breaks for that industry.

It’s good to see Idaho stepping up to offer a home to gun makers who are being driven out of their increasingly hostile home states. I suspect the competition here will be stiff, though. Still, if I had my chance, I’d love to live in Idaho.

Pin of Triumph

Here is my glorious chicken pin:

I can fairly consistently hit the chickens now with rifle. I’m up to the point with pistol where I can his 7 out of 10 on a good day. I need to work on my pistol skills more to accomplish this. I think I can get another (different colored) pin for pistol.

Get Yourself a Black Rifle

Ahab thinks it’s time. I agree. In very worried about what’s going to happen in November. In the primary election, Democrats are turning out way more to vote than Republicans, which tells me Republicans are feeling alienated from their party (and for good reason). Hillary would be unlikely to push for a new assault weapons ban in a serious way (other than lip service), because she’s been burnt in a big way on that issue in the past, and I’m sure she still feels the sting. I think if we get The Hildabeast, the main thing we have to watch out for is preserving the ability to sell firearms privately.

Obama, on the other hand, is politically naive, and I don’t think understands the world very well outside of Chicago. Despite the fact that I lack the loathing disdain for Obama that I have for Hillary Clinton, he’s probably the biggest danger to gun rights.

UPDATE: Stock up on magazines too.Â That’s another likely avenue of attack under a Democrat president.Â Either one I think is likely to do that.

Countertop’s Criticism

I’ve been critical of GOA often in the past, but ouch:

Bottom line, the Gun Owners of America (and by implication Larry Pratt) arenâ€™t worth the paper I just used to wipe shit from ass.

Follow the comment he linked to, where he deconstructs McCain’s GOA F rating.Â I would note, though, that NRA also dinged McCain’s grade because of McCain-Feingold.Â Last time he ran with a NRA grade of C+, if I recall.

To my mind, McCain’s worst sin against gun owners is huckstering for AHSA speaking in favor of banning private sales at gun shows. Â His worst sin against the constitution is McCain-Feingold.

NRA Files Brief in D.C. v. Heller

You can read it here.

ATF Pays Red’s Another Visit

Looks like he’s been audited, once again:

Their intentions were not to bring us into compliance as they have claimed in the past but it was to specifically try and drum up violations in an attempt to paint us in a bad light before the Judge.

Looks like they felt like they needed to dig for some dirt now that they lost their motion for summary judgment.Â Ryan also has some tales of SHOT show.

Extreme Judicial Activism

Robb has the story from Minnesota, where churches sued to overturn the Minnesota Personal Protection Act, which made Minnesota a shall-issue state.Â In this unbelievable ruling, the Minnesota Court stated:

The decision means the Edina Community Lutheran Church can continue to legally bar guns with signs saying “Blessed are the peacemakers. Firearms are prohibited in this place of sanctuary.” Other churches may choose their own wording.

The decision also means that parking lots, day-care centers and other charitable, educational and nonprofit facilities owned by churches may ban firearms.

Strictly speaking, the ban has always allowed churches to ban concealed carry on premises, but the legislature drafted a state wide standard for the signs to be uniform, and conspicuously posted, much like the 30.06 signs (I still love how the numbering on that one worked out) in Texas.

The proper response to this, of course, is for the legislature to strike all signage provisions from the MPPA, and revert to enforcing bans on concealed weapons using laws against trespass.Â Pennsylvania works this way, and it works well.

One wonders how the Court of Appeals would have ruled if the Minnesota legislature had simply chosen to allow concealed carry without any kind of license whatsoever?

Churches are free to ban gun within their churches, using trespassing laws that have been common law for centuries. Â The legislature, by mandating signage, specifically intended to ensure that license holders knew that they were carrying into an establishment that prohibited concealed carry.Â The intent of the legislature has been thwarted by an activist court, and I hope the legislature will take to fixing this problem.

Great Respondent Brief Summary

Over at Leibowitz’s Canticle, there’s probably the best and most detailed summary of the respondents’ brief filed in D.C. v. Heller.

Via Dave Hardy, who also has links to several other thoughtful posts on the subject.