Guns – Page 175 – Shall Not Be Questioned

What Happened to Colin Goddard?

Joe Huffman asks the question:Â what happened to Colin Goddard, The darling of the Brady Campaign? Â Good question. Taking a look myself, I notice his dad has been in the news more than he has. I think the biggest question is what happened to the Brady Campaign? It’s pretty obvious that there was some major turmoil over there, with several key long time people no longer working for the organization. While Colin still says he’s working for Brady, we don’t really know what happened, exactly, in that shake-up. I’ve been singularly unimpressed with Brady’s new leadership, even looking at it objectively.

Post Newtown, the face of gun control became Mayor Bloomberg and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and Shannon Watts, of Moms Demand Action. The Bradys were second fiddle, which is representative of the fact that we know from the MAIG emails that they were attempting to snatch the limelight from BloombergÂ on celebrity PSAs. I’d actually argue that Brady was smart for attempting to use one of its core strengths (celebrity relations) to snatch the narrative back from MAIG, but it seems clear someone decided they needed to be a junior partner in all this. So I don’t think it’s clear whether Colin was a victim of the massive shake-up at the Brady organization, or whether he’s just not on the media speed dial anymore when they are looking for a quote.

I suspect that Colin, much like the organization he aligned himself with, is yesterday’s news. Why would they want a 20-something guy man whose tragedy is now seven years in the past to be the face of this issue when they have dead elementary school children and their grieving families to use? Why call Colin or Dan when one of the Demanding Moms can give you a juicier quote? Even Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has had better game lately, if you go by press attention.

It’s hard for me to see how the Brady organization survives long term, especially given that Bloomberg is throwing his money and organization behind Shannon Watts. It’ll be very interesting to see their form 990s in a couple of years, so see what their finances are doing. I have no doubt that someone will probably step up to keep some skeleton of Brady afloat, lest the news cycle begin to speak about the death of gun control, but it will be an organization severely diminished in stature and effectiveness from its glory days in the 1990s as Handgun Control, Inc.

Destruction of History

The British demonstrate what gun control is meant to do: turning ordinarily law-abiding people who are no threat to anyone into dangerous felons.

A Conservative former mayor and veteran army reservist has been dramatically arrested in an early-morning police raid and charged with owning a live 70-year-old Nazi wartime gun.

Officers with search dogs swooped on the home of Councillor Jonathan Farmer, 56, of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, and seized a German Walther PPK pistol dating back to the Second World War.

Police said they were acting on a tip-off and had a warrant to search his home for firearms. He will appear in court next Monday and could face a five-year jail sentence if found guilty.

I can’t for a minute imaging this is the only bring back pistol hiding out in some drawer or attic in the UK. If my grandfather had brought a pistol back from the war, there’s no law in the world that would make me part with it. I’d gladly risk jail time to preserve not only that piece of family history, but of the country’s history. But this is where the madness of the other side leads.

Thursday News Links

Happy Thursday, almost Friday. Where did the week go? The news cycle on guns is pretty slow this week, but here’s some news:

The depressing thing about this, is that these people vote.

How the NSA bulk data seizure program is like gun registration.

Private Citizens stop 16% of mass shootings.

How to make and reload wax bullets. I think I owe Miguel the hat tip for this one, but not sure.

A reversal of fortune for gun grabbers. Well, this is why they switched to politically incorrect long guns. At one time it was a small base of shooters, so it made an easier target.

Armed citizenry? Bah, who needs it in the 21st century. Antiquated idea that is!</sarcasm>

The .gov ruined this man’s life and arguably sent him to an early grave. I’m glad to see people still spreading the story. Your government lies. It is not trustworthy or reliable, and when one finds oneself on a jury, that bias should be firmly entrenched. The media are even bigger liars.

Maryland lawmakers are talking more gun laws after a mass shooter followed Joe Biden’s advice and got himself a shotgun.

This has to be awkward for the Obama Administration.

This has to be disappointing for Mom’s Demand Action.

A wood AR-15 lower. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. The only problem with wood as a material is that it can splinter along its grain, and it has a tendency to expand and contract with heat and moisture. So while I think this would work, I think it will tend to unreliability. Why use wood when there are polymers just as easy to machine?

What stupid laws look like.

Never get out of the boat.

Meet the Black Talon of the 21st Century.

Who Spent What in the Connecticut Gun Control Fight?

This Wall Street Journal article is telling, in terms of who spends what money trying to fight for gun control laws.

For Connecticut’s new gun control:

Connecticut Against Gun Violence: $150,234
Mayors Against Illegal Guns: $153,011
Total for: $303,245

Against Connecticut’s new gun control:

National Rifle Association: $145,265
Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen: $24,295
NSSF: $83,344
Total against: $252,904

Our side got outspent, but remember that we’re the big-bad corporate gun lobby. They are just a bunch of concerned mayors and mothers our to pass some common sense laws to fight gun violence.

Beretta to Tennessee

Tennessee leaders are apparently excited to welcome a new investment from Beretta in their state that will apparently be in Gallatin, near Nashville. Considering you can’t drive 10 miles in that area without passing billboards for gun shops or gun ranges, I’d say that the 300 people they employee there will probably be among their best customers.

I find it amazing how quickly these blue, anti-gun states with leaders who claim to care about working class folks are so quick to dismiss the manufacturing jobs created by gun companies. The companies are clearly getting tired of it and moving.

Gun Control in the SOTU

They got less than a minute in an hour-five-minute speech. This isn’t much of a bone compared to last year, when he at much greater length and passion, demanded that gun control get a vote (which he lost):

Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day. I have seen the courage of parents, students, pastors, and police officers all over this country who say â€œwe are not afraid,â€ and I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook.

That’s it. Not much meat there, Shannon Watts. Neither Brady nor CSGV certainly have much to chew on either. That’s all he thinks they’re worth, and he’s about as on your side as Â they can realistically hope for. Granted, he can still do a lot of damage with executive orders, but this indicates to me he’s given up on Congress, and that’s a good thing for us.

UPDATE: John Richardson notes: “[Michelle Obama] had four invitees last year post-Newtown to push the issues. This year the sole invitee representing ‘gun violence’ is the school bookkeeper from Atlanta who talked a school shooter into giving up the gun.“

Hope for Pennsylvania

Before the 2014 election season truly kicks into high gear in Pennsylvania, at least I have a little hope for the state with two little bits of information.

The big one is that Virginia just overcame the hardest vote to end the ban on Sunday hunting. There’s still a Senate vote to go, but it has passed in that chamber before. If Virginia can do it after years of arguing, then hopefully Pennsylvania can, too. Perhaps opponents will see that the sky won’t fall, just as it hasn’t in the vast majority of states that allow hunting on Sunday, and reason will prevail.

The second item is a bit of an election year kissing babies moment, but it was announced today that Gov. Tom Corbett is going to attend the NRA Friends dinner that will be held in conjunction with the new sportsman’s show in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania gun owners who appreciate our commonwealth’s laws over places like New York, Maryland, and Connecticut should really help out in a big, big way this year. Gov. Corbett came out firmly against gun bans when the press was pushing him hard to make a call for gun control, and he did it early enough that it shut down any major threat from the legislature.

Monday News Links

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I’m pleased that for the first time in days the temperature is actually above freezing! Who would have guessed such things were possible. Here’s some news links:

Miguel notes the hypocrisy of the Chicago Police Department. They are battlefield weapons that don’t belong on the streets when you have them, but necessary “patrol rifles” when they do.

Taxing a right.

To be fair, they have to squash dissent, because they don’t have any arguments.

Illinois is also proposing a state law to disarm people prescribed medical pot.

Connecticut is planning an amnesty because so few people registered their guns. I doubt that’s going to help. They didn’t register them because they know better, not because they forgot, or didn’t hear about it.

Tim on Rule 1 guns. Rule 1 of gunfighting is to have a gun.

This is a ghost gun. Don’t cross the streams!

I have to admit, this makes me reconsider my hesitance to agree that the Volokh move to the WaPo was a good idea. I agree with Ace of Spades who note: “I hate to tell him this but: They know that’s what you’re offering to the public.Â That’s the problem.”

A newspaper boss wanted to make a public database of gun owners, then decided to change his mind. These people are evil. I have no doubt they’d stuff us all into cattle cars if they thought they could get away with it.

I’ve never carried to the opera before, but I’ve carried to orchestra concerts. We’re not all uncultured rednecks like they think. Maybe they could use some therapy for their phobias.

Prof. Nick Johnson is going to be guest blogging over at Volokh, speaking about his new book “Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms” You can also see his excellent interview on C-SPAN’s Book TV here.

Off topic: I’d say I’ll never eat at Subway again, but I don’t eat at Subway to begin with. Why? Because their food sucks. It’s just bread and filler — hardly any meat and cheese.

No Glock 42 for California

The Glock 42 joins other firearms that will not be available for Californians. I’d like to see manufacturers depart the LEO market too. Even though they are better than you and me. Guns that are deemed “unsafe handguns” are only unsafe when you and I have them, according to California law.

I’d really like to see the courts call them on that nonsense. Generally speaking, I think the courts should beÂ veryÂ skeptical of law enforcement exemptions.Â Law professor Nelson Lund wrote a paper on this topic, arguing that the Courts should look at police use when determining whether an arm was protected. I couldn’t agree more. I strongly believe civilians should be able to own anything cops can own. You can’t argue a weapon is for mass murder, or a weapon is unsafe, and then turn around and say the police need them for self-defense and they aren’t unsafe in the hands of cops. That’s transparently about crapping on civil rights rather than about public safety.

UK Politicians Speaking Out Against the Handgun Ban

While he’s not proposing a system that American gun owners would tolerate, it is interesting to see a British politician arguing that banning handguns for the law-abiding is a terrible idea that was done as a senseless knee-jerk reaction.

Of course, his critics try to insult him by saying his positions are irresponsible and too much like America. To try and find middle ground, the handgun “advocate” also calls Americans crazy for allowing so many law-abiding citizens to own guns.