Guns – Page 1027 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Quote of the Day

Just as the President said, he would have, he would have signed [the assault weapons ban] if it came to his desk, and so would have I.- Presidential Hopeful Mitt Romney on Meet the Press 12/16/2007

I will not vote for Mitt Romney under any circumstance. If the choice is between Mitt and Hillary, I stay home. We must defeat Mitt in the Primary. It’s an imperative. Scroll down on this post to the part titled “On Gun Control.” Mitt was singing a different tune in October. I’m guessing these latest shootings have made him think that it’s better for him to support a new assault weapons ban.

Folks, this guy has to be stopped. He’s truly a weasel and no friend of honest gun owners. He will turn on us in a minute if the polls tell him he should. I urge everyone to get behind a real friend like Fred Thompson or Ron Paul.

UPDATE: He’s also bragging about an NRA endorsement he never received.

UPDATE: Bruce has more.

Copycat Killers

Dave Kopel has an editorial in the Rocky Mountain News this week which echoes some of the sentiments I talked about in this post, back before the shooting in Colorado.Â Dave Hardy points to Loren Coleman, who has studied these things.Â I think there’s little doubt that media coverage of these events encourages future killers.

One thing I noticed about the Colorado shootings is that the courageous actions of Jeanne Assam shifted some of the media attention away from the killer and onto her. Â I’m hoping that her willingness to talk to the media, and tell her story, will put these sociopaths on notice that churches aren’t the soft targets they imagine.Â I am hoping that the publicity Assam’s actions have gotten will mean we won’t see a mass shooting in another church for quite some time.

This reiterates the importance of carrying wherever you go.Â The life you save may not be just your own, and the people around you.Â It may also serve to shatter the fantasy of these deranged people by shifting the attention away from them, and onto you, the person who stopped them, and to let them know their intended prey might not be so helpless as they think.Â That kind of attention might be unwelcome, but I find the idea of a copycat killer more upsetting.

Our View: The Law Means Something

It looks like the Chambersburg Public Opinion believes that guns and polling places don’t mix. While I don’t find their argument to be entirely unreasonable, the Pennsylvania Legislature could have chosen to make polling places off limits for carrying firearms if they were concerned enough about this issue. The fact that is, that the legislature chose not to do so.

The incident with Mr. Rotz is not really about public policy, it’s what the law is, and whether or not Sheriff Wollyung was within his authority to revoke this man’s license to carry a firearm. I don’t believe the sheriff was, as Mr. Rotz was not doing anything unlawful at the time, and asserted his legal right to be armed at the polling place. If Sheriff Wollyung does not like the idea of a man carrying in a polling place, he’s free to lobby the legislature to forbid the practice. Abusing his authority by making and example out of one man, and revoking his right to be armed without just cause, was not the proper or just course of action to take.

Quote of the Day

It’s also frustrating that when a UPS employee raised concerns on September 13 about the “multiple boxes” of ammunition the Colorado shooter had delivered to his postal box, police officers said there was nothing illegal. No limits on the number of guns; no limits on ammunition; very minimal limits on the type of guns – no wonder we have problems.

Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke, Should The Public Be Able To Get The Types Of Guns We Use In Iraq?

How many of us here have multiple boxes of ammunition delivered to our front door when we buy in bulk? With implying he’s looking for limits on numbers of guns and ammunition people can buy, you’d almost think they are looking to revive Brady II. Face it Paul, it’s not happening. You might have help from your friends in the media spreading your organizations bullshit, and let’s face it, you’re trying to mislead the public.

UPDATE: Armed and Safe has more.

When Katanas are Outlawed

… Only outlaws will have Katanas.Â I guess they don’t want anyone in the UK to be able to do something like this.

Help Save Holmesburg

NRA has issued an alert asking folks to help Holmesburg Fish and Game Protective Association continue to operate in the City of Philadelphia:

For seventy-seven years, the Holmesburg Fish and Game Protective Association has served sportsmen and gun enthusiasts throughout Pennsylvania. However, several months ago, the City of Philadelphia sent notice to the Association that its long existing property lease would not be renewed. If no action is taken, the last remaining shooting range in the City of Philadelphia will be forced to close its doors on January 1, 2008.

This one hits close to home for me. The Holmsburg members showed up at one of my club’s meetings asking us to take them in, but we were very close to our membership cap at the time, and they were declined. We have taken some of them in, but we can’t take all of them.

What the City of Philadelphia is doing here is utterly disgraceful. Who must pay for violent in Philadelphia? Certainly not the criminals. It’s the honest sportsmen who have to pay. It’s the honest sportsmen that aren’t welcome in the City of Brotherly Love. The criminals? Well… they rule the streets, and run the city.

So make a call if you can. It’ll mean a lot of the folks who our club can’t take in, and we’re really the only other club close by.

Why the Silence?

Armed and Safe has pretty good coverage of the Sullivan confirmation fight, but notices the lack of coverage on the part of NRA:

By the way, I mentioned several pro-gun groups that have taken a public stand against Sullivan as director of the BATFE, but it seems to me that there’s another gun rights group out there–one, in fact, that considers itself to be the “800 lb gorilla of gun rights groups”–which has remained silent about Sullivan. Perhaps they should be asked why.

I would note that one of our two heroes in all this, Senator Larry Craig, serves on the NRA Board of Directors.Â I wouldn’t take NRA’s lack of public support for defeating Sullivan has an indication they don’t care about reforming ATF.Â It wasn’t too long ago they almost got something through Congress that would have accomplished a lot of the goals, but then the 2006 elections happened.Â I have heard from sources inside the association that pushing relief through Congress is still very much a priority, and they remain committed to it. While I was certainly wrong in questioning grass roots efforts to bring down the confirmation, I wasn’t wrong that the whole issue is a lot bigger than just Mike Sullivan, and ultimately, it will take an Act of Congress to fix what’s wrong at ATF.

This shot across the bow by Craig and Crapo could open the door to Sullivan being more receptive to concerns of pro-gun groups and to try to fix some of the problems we’re having with the agency.Â It also raises awareness of the problem.Â This can’t be anything but good. Â But I can imagine that NRA might think it’s better to keep their attention focused on getting action out of Congress on a reform bill, rather than spending their political capital going after Sullivan, with little hope of actually defeating him.

What do you think? Â Is this the wrong strategy?Â If so, what’s the right strategy?

Bad Bills Up in New Jersey

I know I have more than a few Jersey readers, who have no doubt been following what’s been going on in Pennsylvania lately.Â Now its your turn New Jersey.Â It’s time to put your war face on, storm the capitol, and reclaim the rights that are rightfully yours!Â Or you could just write your state representative that are listed in the alert.Â I know, I know.Â No fun.Â But we do what we have to.

More on Going After Curio & Relic Licencees

I’ve done a bit of research into this topic, to see exactly how we could be affected by any change in ATF’s stance toward type 03 Federal Firearms Licensees.

Stepped up inspections of C&R FFL holders would be the most obvious way to make licensing uncomfortable enough that a lot fewer people would want to do it.

They could also change the C&R terms.Â Title 18, Chapter 44 pretty much leaves this up to the Attorney General, but the standards for a firearm to qualify as a Curio and Relic are part of the Code of Federal Regulations, and to change it would require going through the rulemaking process. Â This can be done without an Act of Congress, however, but ATF can’t (at least not without getting into areas of questionable legality, so that’s not to say it couldn’t happen) unilaterally alter the requirements for being on the list.

Eliminating the Curio and Relic license, changing the fee, or adding requirements to own a safe or other such things, would require an Act of Congress.

So my guess is, if ATF is going to start publicaly going after C&R licensees, it’ll likely involve the rubber glove treatment using the inspection powers they already have. Â Make you all your C&R holders out there are keeping your paperwork in good order, which you should really be doing anyway.

Where’s Wayne?

In answer to this oft repeated question by folks who question the dedication of the the NRA’s Executive Vice President, it would appear that he’s busy writing editorials taking on USA Today’s history of bias against lawful gun ownership.