Dave Kopel gives a speech talking about how the issue of standing up to a tyrannical government (through the eyes of the founding generation) is related to the issue of personal self-defense. In both cases, it’s both self-defense and defeating tyranny. The topic is an introduction to his longer form essay book The Truth About Gun Control.
Category: Guns
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It Just Gets Worse for MAIG
The general right-of-center media has had a field day with Mike Bloomberg’s missteps with his MAIG bus tour. It seems like there are stories about it every single day since his people read off the Boston bomber as a gun violence victim whose life they want to protect.
Now the Washington Examiner is looking over MAIG’s list and found that just a quick review shows that about 1 in 12 names on their list of victims are actually criminals themselves who were killed in the progress of committing a crime by police or armed citizens in acts of self-defense. MAIG is having to walk back from the list and is now trying to say that the story isn’t in the circumstances surrounding the names, but the numbers. That’s interesting since the entire tour and the bus itself are branded as the “No More Names” tour, not the “No More Numbers” tour.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns doesn’t even defend their criminal mayors so publicly, yet they’ll stand by and say that the number of criminals killed in the midst of violent crimes matter. At least their criminal mayor members are typically non-violent criminals.
What a Shame
Sen. Dianne Feinstein got stuck in an elevator with Senate aides today. Unfortunately, they let her out.
Mike Bloomberg’s Rats
We all know about NYC’s Mike Bloomberg illegal mayor problem in Mayors Against Illegal Guns, where he recruits dozens of criminal mayors to work with him at disarming law abiding citizens. But it looks like Bloomberg is trying to help out another type of rat take over in people’s lives.
Bloomberg is instituting a composting law in New York City that will ask (initially, then require in a couple of years) residents to store rotting food for a week so the city can collect it. Yes, he is asking entire city of New York to keep food scraps sitting around to attract more rodents and bugs for a week while they wait for the city to send a special collection team to pick it up.
Now, I have no issue with people who choose to composte. In fact, the city apparently did a voluntary trial run on Staten Island that saw rather significant participation rates. But what they don’t seem to be focusing on is that those participants lived in single family homes on lots that gave them the option to store the food scraps outside of the living areas. Those who live in high rises will not have that kind of flexibility.
But that’s not the only kind of rodents Bloomberg is promoting at the moment.
His Mayors Against Illegal Guns tour continues to garner negative attention for how they define gun violence victims. It’s not just the Boston bomber that Bloomberg’s group initially labeled a “victim.” Did you know that cop killers are victims we must mourn? Jacob also shows us that Bloomberg labeled a man who was shot by police while threatening a toddler’s life as a gun violence victim. Mike Bloomberg and his MAIG allies think we need to stop the lawful defensive shootings senseless slayings of these killers targeting law enforcement and children. It’s an interesting position to take by a group with a higher-than-average rate of criminal activity.
Manchin Unveils Ads
He was on The Morning Joe on MSNBC this morning. You can follow and see the videos. He asks for West Virginians to call the NRA and tell them to support background checks. I’m sure the phones are going to be ringing off the hooks in Fairfax over this one.
On Monday, Manchin unveiled plans to match the NRA by pulling from his re-election war chest to bankroll a counter-attack ad buy—an unusual move for a just-reelected senator.
Good. Make him spend money. We’re going to have running fights over the next six years as we try to punish all the people involved with this latest gun control push. We have to have long memories and be committed to a lengthy fight.
Wednesday News Links
All the news that’s fit to link:
Hunting with the AR-15 on All Outdoor. This is a new spinoff from the folks that brought you The Firearm Blog, so if you’re a fan of TFB, it might be worth stopping in.
It takes more than an EF-4 to ruin a Smith & Wesson M&P. Probably the best advertising Smith & Wesson could probably imagine getting for free.
The enhanced restaurant carry bill in North Carolina has cleared the Senate. Now back to the House for concurrence, and then off to the Governor. But there is trouble brewing, so be sure to call.
The GOP in New York may have a candidate for Governor to go against Cuomo. Though, the last GOP governor in NY, George Pataki, was nothing to write home about.
Illinois towns are looking into gun bans. It’s probable that all the delays in implementing a shall-issue carry bill are to get some more gun bans in and get them grandfathered.
The Heller ruling after 5 years. Has it been that long? I still think it was a great victory, but I have renewed worry about what eight years of Obama is going to do to the federal courts, and where we’ll be able to take Second Amendment law from here.
Uncle has more to say about the anti-gun woman who is carrying for a month as an experiment. His audience is leaving comments too that just seem to end up in the bit bucket. I noticed they did approve a comment today, so it would appear to be reasoned discourse at work.
A 14-year-old is facing a year in jail over an NRA t-shirt. Experts say zero tolerance could backfire.
Democrats quietly renew push for gun control.
Organizing for Action, formerly Obama for America, draws a whopping 3 people to a gun control rally…. in California.
Joe Huffman has a regular monday piece featuring anti-gun folks making penis references about gun owners. Apparently he’s good into 2014. There’s no shortage of material.
Don Kates on shutting up anti-gun hysterics.
Delaware Governor Jack Markell signs a second gun control bill. This time it’s Lost & Stolen. The Philadelphia Inquirer is busy helping lay the ground work to get it passed here.
UPDATE: Forgot one: Has Zimmerman Waived His Right to a Pre-Trial “Stand-Your-Ground” Hearing? Learn the Truth. It got mixed in with work tabs.
Bloomberg Names Boston Bombers as Gun Violence Victims
According to Brietbart. Sometimes I think Bloomberg is smart enough to avoid the kinds of amateurish mistakes I’d expect of CSGV or the Brady Campaign, but wow. Apparently in reading off a list of gun violence victims, they mentioned Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Glad to see MAIG sticking up for terrorists. Stay classy.
The Lubrication Wars
Caleb lobs a grenade into the lubrication wars. I’ve never been convinced by the fancy oils either, but I do like to clean my guns with Gunzilla, because it has very little odor, and works well. I’ve done the brake cleaner thing, and while it’s quick, effective, and easy, I thought I could hear my brain cells crying in agony and dying every time I caught a whiff of the fumes. I agree with Caleb on motor oils though. If it’s good enough to keep a car running it ought to be good enough to keep a gun running. A common mistake people make with oil is using too much. ARs are especially sensitive to over-lubricating.
Winning the Culture
I noticed something interesting on Pinterest yesterday. Hobby Lobby posted a pin of this product in a new category dedicated to western-themed room decor:
Throughout the day when I checked, that product was their most re-pinned and most “liked” pin they had posted in any western decor. I checked out who re-pinned and where, 30 of those re-pins were to boards clearly labeled for home decor. About half a dozen were to boards designated as gift ideas. The vast majority of all boards were clearly run by women.
Keep in mind the context of this pin. This is from a craft store with a target audience of women, and this is a product they stock and also sell online. (Lordy, I miss Hobby Lobby. I like Michaels, and Joann is okay, but Hobby Lobby is supreme in crafting, IMHO.) Actual sales data from other sources indicate that these re-pins aren’t all just people browsing without buying and displaying since an antique-style Winchester Rifle sign is in Amazon’s top 20 of decorative signs.
When I see things like this, it really does hit home that even as our community has taken a few significant political hits on the chin in places like Colorado where its hard to imagine such losses, we are making public awareness of gun ownership a normal thing. Unless you live in Manhattan or San Francisco, saying that you own and shoot guns isn’t likely to get you looks like you have a second head anymore. (Even those places, it may only get you one because that’s how those people think they should react.)
But when you can go to a party and the hostess hands you a glass designated yours by the revolver wine charm, we’re winning. When the 7th most popular ice cube tray on Amazon is makes ice in the shape of handguns, we’re winning. When half of the one star reviews on the product come from anti-gunners who are outraged that such products are even sold, we’re winning.
The next step is to converting the “new normal” of recognizing gun ownership without ridicule to actual action on behalf of the Second Amendment, even if it is minimal action. In some ways, being part of the new normal (at least the relatively newly recognized, since gun ownership was always somewhat prevalent) makes it tougher to motivate people. It makes it easier to fall victim to notion that no commonly owned firearm is really under threat because everyone knows that the Supreme Court said we’re good on guns and so many people own them, so clearly they are safe.