Guns – Page 228 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Wednesday News Links

I’ve been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, and Scandalpalooza is still all in the news, but there’s still at least some stories to be linked.

Katee Sackhoff of “Battlestar Galactica” fame says she lost half her Twitter followersÂ because of a comment about gun safety. Thirdpower has more.

We’re going to have a ballot fight on our hands in Washington State. Ballot fights are bad news, especially because we’re up against someone who has the money to fight them. That’s why I’m skeptical of Gary Johnson’s move to try to repeal Colorado’s gun law through the ballot. If this fails, you’ll never get rid of it.

Speaking of Colorado, it seems Hickenlooper is, in fact, Bloomberg’s puppet.

Is Mayor Bloomber’s MAIG anti-gun? Well, at least now he’s admitting it.

Biden is bidding to restart the gun control push. Well, I guess the White House figures it’s a good distraction from Scandalpalooza.

Bloomberg is targeting donors to pro-gun Democrats, and trying to get them to stop donating. Bloomberg is figuring that if he can’t drive Republicans in the gun debate, he can at least kill any pro-gun sentiment in the Democratic Party. If he’s successful in that, it’ll only be a matter of time, since there won’t be one party in power forever.

Maine almost voted for Constitutional Carry in the House.

The Bad Gun Dumpster.

A disabled shooter finally gets to shoot for the first time in 11 years. Comments on reddit seem mostly positive. The company that makes those rigs is here.

More anti-gun grassroots. I’ve seen more people than that at my club meetings.

Also, see this post on credibility in the blog world. More from SayUncle on the subject.

Growing the Astroturf

Miguel calls the head of Mom’s Demand ActionÂ the plastic gardener, noting her background as a PR professional. The question isn’t so much whether she has a PR background, but whether she’s a political hack. Shannon Watts doesn’t look like the same kind of hack asÂ Donna Dees-Thomases, who was a closely tied to the Clintons and the media. It’s the fact that Dees-Thomases was a political hack that destroyed the narrative.Â Someone with a PR background can still be a stay-at-home mom from New Jersey or Indiana, but to suggest someone with close ties to the Clinton Administration is just some ordinary, concerned stay-at-home mom defies credulity. The question with Shannon Watts is who she is politically, and not so much what she did in her professional life, and I’m not sure any of the cases I’ve seen against Watts paint her to be connected at the same level as Dees-Thomases.

Producing the Next Generation of Gun Owners

Yesterday, I was invited to check out the facilities of a Boy Scout reservation that has benefited from a few grants funded by Eastern Pennsylvania Friends of NRA. All I can say is wow. Wow.

It’s not that their facilities (shooting or otherwise) are the fanciest or most amazing I’ve ever seen. It’s the creativity and ingenuity of making every dime their shooting program receives go as far as it possibly can. It’s the fact that many of their campers come from out-of-state – states like Maryland, New Jersey, and New York – so this camp is often the only opportunity the gun community has to reach these boys. It’s the fact that regardless of the fact that they don’t have the facilities to serve special needs and disabled kids, their organizers put their heads together to make it happen and got those boys their rifle merit badges.

Seeing all the ways that they have had to problem solve with limited or restricted funds is mind-blowing, but hearing their hopes for expanding and improving the facilities to focus on accommodating more scouts is just plain impressive. Unfortunately, they can only do it if they receive the funding for it. And this is why I volunteer.

Because more than 5,000 boys from around the PA/NJ/NY/MD area go through this camp every summer. Think about that. More than 5,000 boys have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of shooting safely and get a chance to learn about the joys of the shooting sports every single summer because of this one camp.

Of course, rifle and shotgun shooting aren’t the only thing this camp offers. There’s archery, rock climbing, swimming, fishing, paintball, and even a science building. Apparently, the number of merit badges that can be earned at this one location are pretty ridiculous compared to other camps.

OFA Out with Rallies in Pennsylvania Again

It looks like the Obama machine is trying to distract from the list of scandals piling up, and they are out to rally for gun control again. They’ve got several events in Southeast PA, specifically geared to drive photo ops for press.

If you’re in Rep. Pat Meehan’s district, why not give his office a call on that day and let the staff know that pro-gun voters turn out when it matters – at the polls. The number for the office to be protested is (610) 690-7323.

I’m curious if the turnout will be similar to this Illinois anti-gun rally.

UPDATE: Adding two more SE Pennsylvania events.

Big Push for Hunting in Pennsylvania

It looks like Pennsylvania’s ban on Sunday hunting is going to be challenged in the courts since the legislature refuses to act. The suit will apparently be brought on rather interesting grounds:

Specifically, the letter says “the prohibition on hunting certain species on Sunday” is “unconstitutional under the First, Second and 14th amendments to the United States Constitution.”

And on a somewhat related note, some new partnership to highlight the economic benefits of hunting is launching at the State Capitol tomorrow.

I actually think that the economic benefits of hunting are under utilized as talking points in the Second Amendment community. We look at gun sales data and think nothing of using those data points, but hunting is one of our community’s sports that requires far more than just a gun and ammunition. The equipment and trips drive quite a bit of money into government coffers. That should be highlight just like other economic indicators in the sports.

In fact, I think it would be handy if more groups that sanction, run, or really do any kind of formal organizing of shooting sports did some economic impact studies. Hell, even local gun clubs could just do some not-so-scientific polling of their members to get an idea of what kind of economic impact they have on the local communities, and that can be used when talking to lawmakers about why it’s good to avoid restrictions on our rights.

A Free Speech Issue or a Funding Issue?

Opponents of the NRA-backed anti-Bloomberg bill in Kansas are using free speech arguments against the bill. I think state and municipal employees have all the free speech rights they want, off the clock. What they don’t have is a right to spend my tax dollars lobbying to undermine my rights. As was mentioned when this bill first came up, Bloomberg had been using taxpayer subsidized professionals to lobby against your Second Amendment rights. This ought to stop, and the Kansas bill is hopefully the first of many.

Project Much?

I normally don’t publish letters to the editor, because most of them don’t often have any particular insight, and are often factually challenged.Â Every once in a while though, I have to make an exception. Because this guy was apparently a raging sociopath of a four year old, apparently the rest of us aren’t responsible enough to teach gun safety to our children.

Five-year-olds today are no more mature than I was, and the NRA thinks thatâ€™s the ideal time to begin teaching children about guns.

You gotta be kidding me.

I’m pretty sure as a five year old I knew not to hurt other children. Also, no one is talking about handing guns, BB or otherwise, to five year olds and telling them to go to town. But five is not too soon to talk to kids about gun safety. In fact, if you have guns in the house, you have a responsibility to teach your kids to be safe around them.

Mixing Issues

GOA is fighting against the immigration bill, arguing that all those foreigners will vote to take away our guns. Maybe that’s so, but maybe it’s not so. Italians were big Democratic voters when they first came here too, but GOP politics around here is now full of people of Italian heritage.

I think GOA is attempting to shoe-horn gun rights into other right issues, and I think that is a mistake. It only serves to make the tent smaller. Approximately 35% of Democrats own firearms, and I don’t believe those votes ought to be written off or marginalized. That would pretty much assure that our fortunes rise and fall with the GOP, and given that all political party fortunes rise and fall, that’s not a recipe for long term protection of the right they claim to preserve.

Taking My Rights Won’t Bring Anyone Back

The Washington Post ran a story over the weekend lamenting that Sandy Hook didn’t change anything on guns, with this bit of grief porn. I don’t know how I’d react if I lost a kid, but I can be pretty sure I’m not going to involve anyone else in my grief, and damned sure I’m not going to let anyone write stories about it. I generally tend to view such external and public displays as fundamentally selfish. That might be harsh, but that’s just how I view it.Â Newsbusters Tim Graham has moreÂ on this story, and notes:

The other politically interesting part of this story was how the distraught parents are molded and shaped by P.R. consultants to say the market-tested things so they can win.

Yeah, I also don’t see myself hiring a PR firm if I ever lose a kid either.

h/t The Gun Wire for the Newsbusters link.

True Liberals in Houston

I’ve heard it said that real liberals would be concerned that the poor cannot afford to exercise their enumerated, fundamental right to keep and bear arms, and this a true liberal would support programs to help the poor afford firearms. Somehow I doubt very many will support this, however, given their penchant for making this particular right as expensive and time consuming to exercise as possible. I think it’s a great idea, personally.

h/t Instapundit.