Guns – Page 279 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Horse Trading

Borepatch proposes a trade for background checks. The problem with this kind of thing is that it’s hard to do, because neither side really wants to compromise. Perhaps we can get all of those things without having to give anything up in return. Perhaps the other side believes the same thing. Even if we got together with the other side, and shook hands on the deal, there’s no guarantee that’s what’ll come out of the sausage grinder, as friendly lawmakers on each side try to sweeten the deal for their own constituency.

But that said, there’s no way I think they’d accept a deal like this. As I mentioned in the comments of a previous post, unlike many of the other gun control groups, I don’t think MAIG is really rooted in the gun prohibition movement. I don’t think that’s the purpose of MAIG. MAIG is an immune response of costal elites to the idea, pushed by our people in recent years, that the Second Amendment applies equally to big cities, and that New York and Chicago’s gun laws cannot be allowed to stand. Their primary goal is to put us on the defensive, so that day of reckoning is delayed as much as humanly possible, and if it does eventually come, will be on as close to their terms as they can get. The purpose of Bloomberg’s MAIG is the preservation of big city gun control. I have little doubt Bloomberg would be fine with prohibition, or near prohibition, for the rest of us, but I don’t view that’s why Bloomberg founded it. I think Bloomberg founded it to keep the Second Amendment out of his city.

Another Blogger Gets a Bug-a-Salt

I got one a few months ago, and suffer from the same problem as Uncle; there are few bugs around in winter. But I’ve had a few flies. Rumors on the Internet that it doesn’t have decent fly killing power is unfortunately true. If you shoot it at your hand, it smarts a bit, so it’s a testament to how strong a fly’s exoskeleton really is. Thinking some larger shot would help, I decided to try kosher salt instead of regular table salt, and I found that de-winged the fly pretty well, but it still look a few follow up “Die, bastard fly! Die!” shots to finish him off. I have not yet tried it on stink bugs, but I’ve seen none around the house. I need to take it to work, where we have plenty.

MAIG’s Real Strategy

Jacob thinks their real aim is bringing and end to private transfers of firearms. I would tend to agree, since it’s been MAIG’s top agenda item since the beginning. But don’t think MAIG will push for a clean bill. They’d be quite happy to support a private transfer ban along with a new assault weapons ban and a magazine ban. Bloomberg can get bent. Until I can legally carry in New York City, and New York has roughly the same gun laws as anywhere else, there is nothing to discuss.

Something to Keep and Eye On

The Republicans are floating a bill to make gun trafficking more illegal. This is something that ATF and federal prosecutors have crowed about for years, namely that there’s no specific federal trafficking statute, even though all the components that go into trafficking a firearm are already illegal.

During a press event, the bill’s sponsors — Reps. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Scott Rigell (R-Va.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) — said their legislation would create a single section of federal code to give law enforcement the ability to prosecute gun traffickers.

The thing to watch for is their definition of “gun trafficker,” because if anything like this is poorly drafted, there is the potential for the otherwise law-abiding to get caught up in it. I doubt this is an attempt at screwing us, but is rather an attempt by GOP lawmakers in tough districts (like Meehan) to say they did “something,” without that “something” being things like banning private transfers, registration, magazine or gun bans.

In our communications with lawmakers, I think it should be stressing “No new gun control!” as simply and directly as possible. Something may still get through, given the resources we’ve had lining up against us, but the stronger message we send, the more likely it is we’ll take a slap rather than a punch in the gut. If all the other side gets out of this is a bill making gun trafficking more illegal, they’ll have a tough time spinning that as a real win. Also, see this about the Senate effort:

Barring an unexpected turn of legislative affairs, a ban on military-style semi-automatic assault weapons will not make it into law, top Hill aides and gun policy advocates say […]Â The other three — a universal background check for firearms sales, a federal trafficking law, and a ban on high-capacity magazines — are likely to be part of a final bill, Democratic aides say, though there is growing concern about whether a ban on high-capacity magazines can make it into law.

I am sincerely hoping that the plan is for the GOP to float this trafficking measure as their “See, we did something,” bill and for the Senate to float their bill, and say “See, we did too,” and for each respective body to hew and haw, and for neither body to take up the bill of the other. But that’s a lot of speculation and wishful thinking on my part, and I absolutely would not count on it. Keep calling, especially your Senators. The more people they hear from, the less likely it’ll be that anything horrid comes out of the sausage grinder.

UPDATE: John Richardson doesn’t like the looks of the supporters.

Our People Turning Out

I’m heartened by reports form Minnesota of huge turnout to fight semi-auto bans. Minnesota is not alone, as Maryland also had similar turnout to their hearing, with the line for people waiting to speak snaking out of the Capitol in Annapolis.

I am heartened by the fact that people are turning out, but what keeps me concerned, what I can’t shake, is the fact that we had this kind of mass mobilization to defeat the health care law, which was, by polling, more unpopular than gun control. There was many times during that fight I didn’t think the Democrats would be crazy enough to actually pass it. But pass it they did. That’s why this isn’t the time to depend on a belief that someone else will take care of things.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gun Control Package

Fortunately, even the sponsors are basically conceding that their modern semi-auto ban and repeal of Castle Doctrine aren’t likely to go anywhere. However, even western Pennsylvania lawmakers are touting that they are supposedly hearing from other legislators that they are open to talk of more gun control.

Bottlenecks in Gun Making

Dave Hardy links to this very interesting article that seems to show a problem in being able to crank out more ARs and other firearms is that there isn’t enough high quality steel to be had for barrels. The numbers here are astounding.

On the Popularity of the AR-15

During the first assault weapon debate, it was the AK that was the real demon. That was the first gun I bought, which I did solely because there were certain types of people telling me I shouldn’t. It was an act of defiance. I hardly shoot either of my AKs, because they just aren’t as ergonomically satisfying to me as the AR platform. It’s funny, then, that even NBS News and the New York Times are forced to acknowledge Â the rifle’s popularity. Though with this kind of nonsense:

On one level, what is happening here and elsewhere simply reflects supply and demand. The gun industry has spent decades stoking demand for the AR-15 and rifles like it. Now, after the mass killings inÂ Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, President Obama wants to reduce the supply.

This is, of course, quite humorous to people who know this issue in any detail. The industry did not embrace the movement toward ARs. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming. Ask anyone with close ties to the industry, like Michael Bane. Not because they hated black guns, or bought into the gun control movement’s nonsense, but the industry is very traditional and risk averse.

Journalists just assume this stuff is true, and print it as truth, but the truth is that the gun culture changed first, and then the gun culture changed the industry. The industry did not change the gun culture. When is the left going to recognize that this is a movement composed of millions of actual people? Thinking people. People who are often smarter than the journalists who write this crap.

The Senate Fight Shaping Up

I got my second e-mail alert from NRA today asking people to call their Senators:

Every gun owner’s voice must be heard…STARTING WITH YOURS!!!

Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senators by name. Or, email your Senators by going to NRA-ILA’s “Let Your Voice Be Heard”Â webpage.

NRA is generally loath to sound the alarm if things are going well, lest they be the boy who cries wolf, which tells me the votes in the Senate are not going in the direction we want.

Whether you call or email, make sure you tell your Senators to voteÂ NOÂ on any gun ban…NOon any magazine ban…NOÂ on criminalizing private firearms transfers…andÂ NOÂ on any gun registration scheme.

It’s funny we were so close to getting national reciprocity, and now we’re fighting bans on semi-autos, magazines, and facing the very real possibility of shutting down private sales and national registration. Some gun owners were protesting this was not going to amount to much, because the anti-gun people have no real base of support. That doesn’t really matter. What matters is gun owners have been asleep at the switch for most of the Bush years, first term Obama didn’t do anything to wake them up, and these are the consequences. Those of us that follow this issue and shoot regularly are a small minority. Most only get involved in this issue when motivated by fear or anger.

We are not facing the anti-gun crowd, save Bloomberg. We’re facing the left-wing of the Democratic Party, and they mean to destroy us. They are betting this trend is real, that the country will be increasingly urban, left of center, and more in favor of gun control. They are betting the farm that we’re on our way to extinction. Are we?

Photo Sleuthing

Dave Hardy takes a look at the Skeetgate and wonders if Obama was even on the skeet range, comparing a picture of JFK on the range from years ago. It could have been taken next to the skeet range along side the road, but the ground there looks pretty open on satellite. The picture to me looks more like “Hey, I want to try out this shotgun,” rather than shooting skeet. I’m still kind of baffled why the White House even made this an issue, because it’s silly. No one expects Obama is a shooter. The photo is pretty obviously not shooting skeet, and he’s pretty obviously either not a shooter, or a real novice at it. And that would be fine, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was using a, “Hey, I’m one of you,” to pull the wool over people’s eyes so he can successfully divide and conquer.