Guns – Page 124 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Moderate Dems Key to Reciprocity Victory?

Jacob wonders if moderate Dems could be the key to reciprocity. I think in the Senate, maybe. I think we would have enough to invoke cloture, but probably not enough to override a veto. We have 54 Republicans in the Senate. You can kiss Mark Kirk’s (R-IL) vote goodbye. That means we need 7 Democrats to invoke cloture. I think we have that. But that doesn’t get us to 67 to override a veto.

The bigger problem is going to be the House. How many pro-gun Dems are left? Not many. You need 290 votes to override a veto, and there are 246 GOP votes. Of course, you don’t get all 246. You can write off Peter King (R-NY) and Chris Smith (R-NJ). At least one of those GOP seats resigned already due to a guilty plea on federal charges. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Pat Meehan (R-PA) are two squishes I would be concerned about in that vote, especially Fitzpatrick because not intending to run for his seat again in 2016, and thus no longer has to face voters.

So that gets us down to 241 Republicans likely on board, but probably there’s some I’m missing, so we’ll say 238. That leaves us having to find 52 Democratic votes to override Obama’s veto. I think we can count on maybe 10 in the House. I’m not even sure that many, I’m not sure what all pro-gun Dems we lost in the last election. But it’s definitely not 52. So Obama’s veto will hold in the House.

Now, I think we ought to pass National Reciprocity, and make him veto it. So I’m not saying it shouldn’t be pushed and voted on in the 114th Congress. But I wouldn’t be unrealistic about what we can expect. I don’t think we have enough to get an override, but we’ll see. The blue dog pro-gun Democratic is a critically engendered species in Congress by this point.

This is No Way to Win the Nomination

Chris Christie’s state police has promulgated new regulations, including tinkering with the definition of “assault firearm” in New Jersey’s law to make it more strict. This means people who own guns that were previously legal in New Jersey are now felons. It’s also worth remembering that Christie signed the law which prohibited anyone on the “terror watch list” from purchasing a gun. They put it in the regulation, but I’m honestly not sure the FBI will even run that check for them.

The new regulations also add a bunch of new requirements for dealers, including requiring them to open up their records for the NJSP. Â I should note that I’m not all that much of an expert on New Jersey’s current laws regarding dealers, so I don’t fully understand how much this changes, and you can be sure that journalists know even less, and won’t bother to consult with actual experts (Evan Nappen is probably the foremost, and probably one of the only, experts on NJ gun law).

This is no way for Chris Christie to convince a skeptical base that his candidacy for the GOP nomination for President is a good one. As New Jersey governors go, Christie hasn’t been bad for gun owners. But as New Jersey governors go is a far cry from convincing primary voters in America that he’s good enough on the issue for them. If Christie does decide to run, this issue is going to dog him, and it should.

The Danger of Off-Body Carry

One of the big stories over the holiday is the unfortunate accident in Idaho involving a toddler who got into his mother’s carry purse, and managed to shoot her dead. I lean more toward Bob Owens position, “I hate off-body carry with an unbridled passion, and personally feel that if you canâ€™t carry a weapon on your body, that you should not be carrying a firearm at all,” but I’m an absolutist about damned few things. That said, it’s I think it’s a pretty terrible option. Anyone who feels they need to carry this way needs to think long and hard. Are you a forgetful person? Are you prone to misplacing your purse, satchel, or briefcase? Are you habituated to leaving it unattended, even for short periods of time? How would you access it if you had to use it? Is your draw technique safe enough to deal with the fact that you will have to cross-draw with a purse?

Deciding on your method of carry, or whether to carry at all, requires serious introspection. I had considered briefly keeping a pistol in a jacket pocket, but I remembered that one time I left my coat at a restaurant. I’ve left my laptop bag in a restaurant once. Two incidents is enough to convince me that off-body carry is not an option for me, because I’m too careless with items that aren’t directly on my person.

The other big issue with purse carry is that in perusing concealed carry purses with Bitter, I’ve come to the conclusion that they are all pretty awful. Most models I’ve seen just have a special pocket you stuff the gun into. Some of them provide an access opening so small, you couldn’t effectively and confidently draw from it. You almost certainly couldn’t re-holster the firearm intuitively. None I’ve seen have adequate protection for the trigger. None I’ve seen have good enough retention to keep the firearm in the purse if you decide to leave the compartment unzipped. If there’s retention at all, they often have awkward passive retention, often just velcro. A simple polymer sleeve, fit to the gun, would be enough to provide both good trigger protection and to keep the gun locked in sleeve until broken by the draw. I’ve never seen a concealed carry purse that had such a thing, or could even reasonably accommodate it. In belt holsters, we mock the sausage sack, but I’ve never seen a concealed carry purse that had anything better than one, if it had anything in the gun compartment at all.

That said, if you have enough people, with enough guns, the law of averages is going to catch up with you eventually. This case is the first I’ve ever heard of like it. With probably about 10 million people having toters permits by now, many of them carrying regularly, one incident is hardly an epidemic. With the need to keep bringing more women into the issue, I’d hate to demand that all women eschew off-body carry. But I do think off-body carry requires a lot more habituation and training than other methods, if it is to be done safely. Holster and carry purse makers designing better options for women wouldn’t hurt either.

While I Was Out News Links

Familypalooza is now over, and despite the Friday after New Years this year, realistically this is when everyone is returning to work. The important thing for me is that I get to eat ham, and eat ham I did. Jews and Muslims really have no idea what they are missing. Especially the spiral cut hams that come with the glaze packets that fixes things up real nice. Now to clear out my tabs so I can start the week anew:

Over the holidays, #ImBlockedByShannonWatts became all the rage. Hey, looks like I’m blocked too!

Shocker: Wendy Davis was faking it.

Gun control groups move their attention to the states. There have been a lot of puff pieces in the media about gun control being on the ascendancy. It’s almost like someone is trying to drive a narrative. Of course, this is only because Bloomberg is willing to dump millions into it. When Bloomberg does it, it’s good. When the Koch brothers do it, EVIL!

Another Shocker: Looks like ATF was trying to use Fast and Furious to justify gun control after all. Unfortunately, because the media is willing to run cover, none of this will amount to a hill of beans. I believe the media is now a bigger threat to the Republic than any single segment of American society.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Eliminating the ATF would be horrible for gun rights. We’d have absolutely no control over the FBI, and they would be free to run roughshod over our rights, and they would do so competently.

From Washington State: Self-defense is a constitutional right.

Why are NRA people such awful Americans?Â Dave Hardy looks at burial places of past NRA Presidents. Most frequent place? Arlington National Cemetery. Three were awarded CMH, two Navy Crosses, and a Silver Star. Really, they only care about their gun fetish.

Much hand wringing going on in our pacific territories about the possibility that they might have to follow the Constitution.

Not that this doesn’t exist in the shooting sports, but I’ll say it again: Hunters are their own worst enemies.

Mass killing in Australia. But because there was no gun involved, I doubt it will quash the narrative that the Australian gun ban stopped mass killing in its tracks, and was thus hugely successful. Also, a mass shooting in Canada.

Attorney Joshua Prince is keeping a running tally of local municipalities in Pennsylvania which are looking at repealing their illegal gun ordinances. It looks very promising.

Gun control groups seem happy to be rid of pro-gun Democrats. That’s all well and good, but remember they had to embrace gun rights and blue dogs to get back to a majority in 2006. How many times to Dems have to be convinced that gun control is a loser for them?

“The anti-gun writers seem to be engaging more in social signaling than in argument.” It’s always been about that. They’ve never wanted a discussion. They just want to revel in their delusions ofÂ being better human beings than we are.

I’d really like to know more about how Master Card was willing to screw us. Makes me glad I only use Discover.

I-594 Update

Since I’ve been away, I thought I’d give an update on the happenings with I-594 in Washington State. The media is already doing ground prep for the narrative that the implementation of I-594 is essentially no big deal, and what are all those stupid gun owners complaining about anyway. Expect to see a lot of this as the media tries to run cover for Bloomberg’s project.

Remember there is going to be a rally at the Capitol in Olympia on the 15th of this month to protest I-594.Â Joe Huffman is going to be a speaker at the rally. I think it’s important that lawmakers see a significant presence. The previous non-compliance rally drew about 1000 people from various accounts, but to really make an impact on lawmakers, it needs to be something they don’t often see. If you live in Washington, I’d make plans to go.

Also, SAF hasÂ filed suit against I-594 in court. The suit is on both Second Amendment and vagueness grounds. It doesn’t challenge the concept of background checks on change of title per se, but it really doesn’t need to. All they need to show is that the definition of “transfer” in the law is constitutionally untenable. Despite whatever severance clause may be in the law, the core of the law hinges on that definition, and the court should toss the entire law if it’s written too broadly or vaguely. It would then be up to the legislature to either fix it, or for Bloomberg and his allies to spent millions more trying to hoodwink voters again.

30 Years Ago Today

Bernhard Goetz shot four muggers on the New York City Subway, and got the country talking. He was acquitted on all charges, except for carrying a firearm without a license, for which he was sentenced to a year in prison, of which he only served eight months. Newspapers everywhere called his act of self-defense vigilantism. In fact, he was called the “subway vigilante” by the media.

This incident is regarded as being a prime contributor to the concealed carry movement that would begin to sweep the nation starting with Florida passing the Jack Hagler Self-Defense Act in 1987.

Does an Anti-Gun PSA Show Video Evidence of Lawbreaking?

Lots of folks are picking up on this PSA video that will likely encourage children to break the law, stealing their parents guns in order to turn them into their teacher:

[UPDATE: Looks like the video was made private. Essentially pulled from public. I won’t criticize the move. It is the responsible thing to do. This never should have been made in the first place.]

I think it’s important not to miss a possible bigger issue here. At the end it says it was filmed in cooperation with North Oakland Community Charter School. Did they have the kid in possession of a real firearm in a real school in California? If so, how is the kid not liable under California Penal Code Section 626-626.11 “Carry Allowed on School Property With Permit/License.” There’s no filming exception, nor is there a good intentions exception, and that kid looks too young to have a license. Though, I suppose they can probably hope to get the David Gregory treatment. Wouldn’t the adults in this video also be guilty of furnishing the minor with a firearm and encouraging him to break the law? That’s a crime.

Anyone who knows California gun law well, and maybe knows some juvenile law, want to run a list of things the kid and adults could be charged with if this was a real gun in a real school? Why aren’t authorities investigating? Feel free to include federal violations as well, including the Federal Gun Free School Zones Act.

Passing on the Gun Culture

I guess this is one way to ensure that your descendants will know you were an active member of the pro-gun culture by carrying concealed all of the time. From FindAGrave, this is the inscription on the linked headstone:

Here lies Bill Burch, who never missed a day of church;
He loved his family, friends and fun,
And on his ankle was always a gun.

I noticed that it’s for a cemetery in Maryland and then realized that the partially concealed emblem must have been the representation of a police badge. Suddenly, that made sense given the location.

Still, you have to give the guy and his family some credit for highlighting role of lawful concealed carry in Bill’s life. Also, they provide the full name at the top of the stone, along with a nickname and full dates. Bill’s 3rd and 4th great grandkids will love them for it.

He Hunts, He Fishes, He Doesn’t Like Modern Sporting Rifles

I admit that I had to do a double take when I saw the Facebook image and news flash across my screen that NSSF has invited Bill Engvall to be the new headliner at SHOT this year. I mean, they bill him as a target-shooting hunter, what would possibly be bad about that?

Well, except Engvall is on the record promoting the idea that no civilian should be allowed to own an AK-47. He also said in that video that he’ll compromise with people calling for an outright repeal of the Second Amendment and ban guns that shoot too many rounds that would ruin meat while hunting.

When fans challenged him on Twitter at the time, he dismissed the concerns of his “redneck” fans: “My Twitter account blew up. All these country fans of mine, and redneck fans were like, ‘Are you a Communist? You can’t take away our guns!'” I even remember challenging him on the issue at the time, and he stood by his statements that civilians shouldn’t be allowed to own them. I was rather shocked that he was responding at all, but he did.

I find it interesting that Engvall is now more than happy to run and deposit the check issued by a group that gets their donations from companies that make and sell the very guns he wants to ban.

I get that Jay Leno’s cancellation put NSSF in a bad spot, but it seems there had to have been better options. To the best of my knowledge, other than mocking his fans who disagreed with him a few months after the incident, I’ve never heard Engvall try to make the situation right by educating himself on the issue. Even Jim Zumbo made the effort after his anti-“modern sporting rifle” remarks.

Nebraska and Oklahoma Sue Colorado Over Legal Weed

Nebraska and Oklahoma, in a shocking level of disrespect for the concepts of federalism, are suing the State of Colorado over legal weed. This case would be heard at the Supreme Court, since in cases of suits by one state against another, the Supreme Court has Original Jurisdiction. You might be thinking this is an off topic post, but it’s not. If Nebraska and Oklahoma were to prevail on their claim, it would open the door to states like New York and New Jersey to sue neighboring or nearby states for their gun laws. The suit against Colorado rests on the notion that Colorado’s marijuana law creates an “interstate nuisance.” That sounds an awful lot like the kinds of suits PLCAA was meant to eliminate, but PLCAA doesn’t apply to suits between states.

The people behind the lawsuits by these two states should really think about the consequences of what they are doing. Do they believe in federalism, or not?