Guns – Page 314 – Shall Not Be Questioned

The Kind of Activism I’d Like to See More Of

Someone infiltrated a CeaseFire PA invitation-only fundraiser (by above board means)Â and is reporting back. It’s funny, when I was growing up in Delaware County, Radnor Township was about as Republican as Republican could get, and as this poster mentions “I have seen Radnor Twp transition from a fairly conservative community to a full fledged Liberal Haven.” Yes, and it’s been sad to watch. It is now pretty obviously a hot bed of anti-gun activism, and more evidence that the new front lines for gun rights in Pennsylvania will be in the Southeast as the continuing success of the Democratic Party in the suburbs swings the state’s political center decisively leftward and more southeastern.

One thing to note is that CeaseFire is getting very disciplined on their messaging. It should be noted that the ED (Max Nacheman. The post notes that Dan Muroff is ED, but I think he’s President, though it’s possible Nacheman is out, and we didn’t hear about it) used to work for Bloomberg, so if there’s extensive coordination between Bloomberg’s group and CFPA, it wouldn’t surprise me. They are avoiding all the loony tunes nonsense the Bradys and CSGV are descending into, and setting very short term goals and trying to build public support for a real movement. In short, I think these people mean to be serious, which makes CeaseFire PA a group to keep a close eye on.

It Always Just “Goes Off”

Color me skeptical here:

State police Lt. Eric Hermick said Sunday the father had secured a rifle in the back of the truck and placed his pistol on the console when the handgun went off. Hermick said police are reviewing surveillance video from the store, which helped lay out the chain of events; the video is not being released.

“It is very clear-cut exactly what transpired here,” Hermick said of what he called clearly an accident. “As he’s laying it down, it discharges.”

They may have happened as he laid it down, but guns don’t “go off,” unless someone was showing flagrant disregard for rule 3, and in this case rule 1 too.

Gun Control and Racism

A post from Professor Nicholas Johnson:

Even the roughest cut at the question shows that substantial swath of the Black community would reject Whitlockâ€™s thesis. National polling by the Pew Research Center recently asked,Â â€œWhat do you think is more important â€“ to protect the right of Americans to own guns, or to control gun ownership?â€ Fifty-four percent of whites and 30 percent of Blacks said it was more important to protect gun rights. Respondents were also asked â€œShould States and Localities be able to pass laws banning handguns?â€ 64 percent of Blacks said yes and 30 percent said no.Â Based on these results, Whitlock must conclude that a third of the Black community are Klan sympathizers.Â And that actually is the least absurd implication of his â€œanalysis.â€

And that’s only looking at national surveys with very small samples of blacks. Read the whole thing. He goes on to plug his upcoming law review, which I have read a draft of. It’s quite good and I look forward to it coming out:

Whitlockâ€™s commentary is also problematic at another level that I elaborate in detail in my forthcoming article,Â Firearms Law and The Black Community:An Assessment Of The Modern OrthodoxyÂ (Connecticut Law Review) and a forthcoming book based on that research, â€œNegros with Guns: The Dual Tradition of Non-Violent Social Change and Individual Self-Defense (Prometheus).Â This work explains that the basic premise of the modern gun control movement â€“ that people should rely on government for personal security- is wildly at odds with the Black experience in America. No group in the nation has better reason to doubt the competency and benevolence of the state. For most of the Black experience in America, the state has been an overt menace.

This is going to be an important new work for waging the culture war against gun control.

Saving History

I wish all police departments ran gun buybacks this way. The destruction of history apparent in these events is one of the great tragedies. In this case, an StG-44 was saved by a police officer with a gun habit and a sharp eye. I have to infer that it’s registered, because they are speaking of getting it to a museum. If it’s not registered (as war bring backs often were not), then its fate is uncertain. This is one reason for the Veterans Heritage Firearms Act, which has been introduced in the past several Congresses but hasn’t gone anywhere.

Glock Carbine

An interesting conversion just approved by the Israeli Police. Would require a tax stamp here, though.

Another View on Chicago Senator Trotter’s Gun Oops

I meant to get this up yesterday, but my workstation died, and John Richardson beat me to it. We had reported a bit tongue-in-cheek about State Senator Donne Trotter getting caught with a pistol at an airport checkpoint a few days ago, and noted he was a C-, which for Chicago is to say he’s not a raving gun hater. CCRKBA jumped immediately though, which in light of this from NRA’s lobbyist in IL, may have been ill advised. A lot of people on our side are very black and white in how they approach political actors: either they are with us or against us. In the actual mechanics of passing bills, it’s never that clear, and a vote for your immediate legislative priority is a vote whether it comes from an A rated politician or a C- rated politician. Politics can sometimes make for strange bed fellows.

ATF Looking to Regulate Ammunition?

NRA has attended some meetings, and it would seem ATF is poised. This must be what Wayne has meant by “It’s going to come fast, and hard.” They are taking public comments until December 31st. I’d suggest sending something, even if it’s not remarkably thoughtful. Let them hear from us.

Whitlock Fakes Backpaddling, Then Doubles Down

In his latest column, he admits to being “inarticulate” and “off message,” suggesting he was tired when he said the NRA is the new KKK, but basically does not apologize for the remark, and even doubles down:

We canâ€™t see this or even have a discussion about it because the propaganda-political-lobby-machine, the NRA, has hoodwinked America into believing handguns make us safer. The NRA, like the KKK, has brainwashed us through fear and division.

We had a discussion about guns, and your side lost. Furthermore, when you insult NRA, you insult its members as well. When you suggest we’re dupes, you’re calling us weak minded fools who can’t think for ourselves and who blindingly believe and accept everything NRA says or does. When you say “NRA capitalizes on and promotes racial fears and ignorance,” how are you not saying NRA members are ignorant racists.

You’re standing by what you said, Jason Whitlock. It’s still condescending and offensive. You weren’t inarticulate or off message. You let the world know what you really believed, and what you believe is that NRA members are racist, ignorant dupes. That shows your own ignorance more than it does ours.

Different Gun Cultures

I have to admit that it’s not every state where you can find people randomly driving by an Olympian posed with a gun on the side of the road and not have someone call the cops.

This image was shared by Pennsylvania native Jamie Gray, winner of the gold medal in women’s 50-meter three-position rifle this year, as she visited the new test range set up by Eley in Texas.

Some Commentary on 3D Printing v. CNC Milling

There’s some discussion about 3D printing over at The St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Jason and I have spent a good deal of time exploring both possibilities, since he has both a rudimentary hobbyist-grade 3D printer and an inexpensive and workbench sized CNC mill. We started off trying to print a magazineÂ for an M11 submachine gun. One issue is that extruded ABS from a printer is a lot less rigid than the thermoplastics that are often used to make magazines, so the walls needed to be a lot thicker than on a production magazine, which reduced capacity and reliability. We still haven’t gotten around to trying to live fire a magazine.

Then Jason did an AR-15 lower receiver that uses a modified, bolt-together design to make it easier to mill than a standard lower. This actually works quite well. There’s also an M1911 in the works, but until Jason gets his Delorean back on the road again, that’s on hold.

There really isn’t a comparison between the two techniques. Hobbyist grade 3D printing is currently not up to the task of making guns, and is barely up to making plastic copies of plastic magazines. Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, one has to be careful in one’s selection of plastics to avoid legal issues when using plastics in firearms. CNC machining works fine, however, and is within reach of hobbyists. Jason is not a skilled machinist, and yet still managed to add a bit to his collection. That’s not to say that CNC milling doesn’t require any skill: it does. There’s also a good bit of trial and error that a skilled machinist would likely avoid, and aluminum isn’t cheap. The real promise of 3D printing over CNC is that 3D printing takes relatively less skill, at least in theory, but the technology is not quite developed yet, and metal 3D printed parts are still at a price point beyond that of a hobbyist.