Guns – Page 306 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Center for Biological Diversity Joining the Anti-Gun Effort

We all know the Center for Biological Diversity as the group that, before the recent election petitioned the EPA to regulate lead ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which the EPA politely declined. Well, now it seems they are rallying to the gun control cause as a whole, not restricting themselves merely to the lead issue. From a reader:

From: Center for Biological Diversity <kieran@biologicaldiversity.org>
Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 5:00 PM
Subject: Take a Stand: Don’t Let the NRA Take America Hostage

Dear Center Supporter:

The National Rifle Association’s extremist agenda has held our political system hostage for too long.

The Center for Biological Diversity has long fought the NRA over the senseless killing of endangered wolves, condors, polar bears and bald eagles. After the horrific, gun-charged killings in Newtown — and seeing the NRA’s sickening refusal to take responsibility or support any gun violence reforms at all — I’ve decided that enough is enough!

We just ran a full-page ad in The New York Times calling out the NRA’s extremist political agenda and endorsing not only the elimination of highly toxic lead from bullets (a longtime Center campaign) but also legislation to end gun violence against people.

[…]

The rest is fairly typical fundraising fare. So I guess the gun control groups aren’t alone in fundraising off Newtown. It does indicate that there is a definite push to put gun control under the purview of the entire left-establishment, and not just something pushed by underfunded extremists groups and rich billionaires.

Feinstein Highlights Assault Weapons Ban

I would not take this to be the form that is eventually introduced, but I think it’ll be a good indicator on how serious they are about actually trying to pass something. Feinstein is proposing here implementation of a ban worse than California’s. Some salient features:

There will be a single feature test. Basically if it has a pistol grip or thumbhole stock, it’ll be banned.
If it holds more than ten rounds, from a fixed magazine or otherwise, it’ll be banned.
Grandfathering under the National Firearms Act only. In other words, Mr. and Mrs. America, you have to pay a $200 dollar tax per gun to register, and then NFA rules apply to transfer under the grandfathering. I guess she realizes Mr. and Mrs. America aren’t going to turn them in anymore.

If this is really the proposal, they are either not serious about passing something, or they are hoping to horse trade their way to to something still stronger than the 1994 ban, but not as bad as their first offer out of the gate. Needless to say, we need to soundly reject this bill, and not agree to compromise on something better. The response to Feinstein needs to be nothing short of total defiance. She gets nothing.

Anti-Gun Compromises

Tactical Tupperware notes:

A few days back I heard an old man share a world view that was so simple it made sense. I couldnâ€™t believe that I hadnâ€™t heard it before.

He said that if I move my fence 100ft onto your property, you protest and then I move it back to only 50ft on your property, to a politician that was compromise but to anybody else its still theft.

That’s pretty much how they think it works. What’s amusing is that they’ve never even given a try at true horse trading. I can’t think of a better way to get gun owners arguing about who to throw off the lifeboat than offering trading gun show loophole for, say, the Hughes Amendment, or taking suppressors out from under the National Firearms Act. Hell, you could probably find takers for putting semi-auto long guns under NFA in exchange for repealing the 86 ban on full-auto. That would be epic divide and conquer, but as I’ve pointed out in the past, there’s a reason horse trading, practically speaking, doesn’t happen except in smoke filled rooms full of politicians and lobbyists.

We Must Let Them Know We’re Here

Heather from Alaska has an good example of how to personally make a difference on the cultural front:

To be entirely honest, there were several times over the past week when I wondered why I was bothering trying to explain my position to people who felt it was okay to just insult me personally based on my beliefs. Â I kept at it, though, and very recently I realized how much that work had paid off.

I had received several private comments from people supporting me, which certainly helped some but those were mostly from those who agreed with me to begin with. Â Then one of the pro-gun control people made a public post in the forum in my support. Â She thought that I was being unfairly attacked.

Read the whole thing, as they say. Being engaged with ordinary people is important. It not only lets you know what people outside the movement think, but also lets other people out there who are on our side, but might not quite be as vocal, know there are other people out there that think the same way. It offers an opportunity to expand the horizontal interpretive community, and to prevent the left’s strategy of shaming the nation into supporting gun control from working.

Media Pulling Strings with Administration Officials

It seems that NBC contacted the DC police about having David Gregory use a 30-round-magazine on Meet the Press and was told that they could not violate the law. However, TMZ reports that NBC appears to have gone to the ATF and they contacted the DC police about the issue. It seems to me that permission to violate the law was suddenly granted once the federal agency stepped into the situation.

Left in a Panic?

Kurt Schlichter thinks the left is losing control of the narrative. I’m not quite as optimistic. The left has four years to wear us down. Remember that the anti-gun folks didn’t have the votes for an assault weapons ban or magazine ban, until they did. We also really have no idea what the President is planning on doing, or how hard he is planning on pushing. So I’m reluctant to suggest the left is in full retreat. It’s too soon to suggest we’ve beaten back the main push, or even seen it.

NBC Could be in Real Trouble

Lots of hay has been made of David Gregory flashing a 30 round magazine, which is illegal in Washington DC in Wayne LaPierre’s face on Meet the Press. Apparently they contacted the DC police, which warned them it would be illegal. Apparently the DC police are investigating. I agree with Uncle… let NBC and Gregory suffer under the laws they advocate. Ultimately, making this magazines illegal means putting a lot of otherwise peaceful, law abiding people in federal prison. Let David Gregory be first.

Poor Piers!

Turns out a lot of Americans don’t like being lectured to, and I’m not really sympathetic to Morgan’s whining. While deporting him was never going to be a serious policy proposal, it’s interesting the response to the petition. The article is even out of date; it says there are 45,000 signatures. As of right now, it’s pushing 75,000.

A Family that Joins NRA Together…

So it turns out that NRA memberships are the hottest gift of the holiday season – at least in my family. My mother bought my uncle a membership for his birthday today. In a completely separate conversation tonight, my brother asked me to send him a link to sign up. My mom is already a life member, so is everyone in our household. I don’t have a huge family, so this is now a pretty sizable percentage – all of whom vote in every major election.

People in my family who don’t normally concern themselves with Second Amendment issues are concerned about the kinds of proposals that have been discussed in the media. This doesn’t automatically mean that “we win” the debate. This means that we have some new allies. But those allies need to be informed of what’s going on and when we need them to contact their elected representatives.

For those of you looking for extremely last minute gifts, NRA gift memberships are sold online. :)

More TV Appearances

Gene Hoffman of the CalGuns Foundation:

A fair treatment of the issue, I thought.