Tab Clearing: Catching Up From Boston Edition

Took a bit to catch up on blogs, since I hadn’t been reading all week because of the mid-week business trip to Boston. But now I’m caught up, and have my tabs loaded up.

Thirdpower compares CSGV headquarters in Washington D.C. to NRA’s Headquarters in Fairfax. CSGV HQ is located over a bar. To be fair, NRA’s Federal Affairs office in D.C. is located over a bar as well. I’d also point out, having been in NRA’s office, they aren’t wasting your membership money on posh office furniture. I also find it interesting that despite the claim CSGV is not about banning guns, their office decor would seem to say otherwise.

Tam notes that parody is becoming impossible.

Jacob notes gun control FAIL in New York’s Capitol in Albany. Bitter’s talk at NRA’s Grassroots Seminar was better attended than this rally, and this is New York State. Naturally the media ignored it. The big problem is that the cowards at ALEC and Corporate America in general don’t know the difference between a real grassroots movement, and astroturfing ginned up by Soros and his buddies. Jacob also notes that Mayor Bloomberg isn’t very highly regarded by NRA Annual Meeting attendees.

Back to Thirdpower again, where he notes that CSGV would seem to believe that women should run away from spousal abusers rather than act in self-defense. I’m becoming more and more convinced that the extremists at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence do not, in fact, believe in the right to defend ones life.

Tom Maguire notes that at least some in the black community are speaking out against seeking justice for Trayvon by beating up white people, but we’re hearing crickets from the Rev. Al and Rev. Jackson.

Clayton Cramer notes that gun owners might want to close their accounts with Bank of America and reports on an important case in the Kentucky Supreme Court which allows students to have a firearm in their vehicle on campus.

NRA-ILA’s Chief Lobbyist Chris Cox writes a letter to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, decrying their position on guns in parking lots.

A gun carrying man ended a stabbing spree, which is two things our opponents say never happens wrapped into one incident, that a gun owner stopped a mass killer, and that there are such things as stabbing sprees.

Americans are increasingly in favor of gun rights and gay marriage. I favor both, as does Professor Reynolds, who I owe a hat tip to for this link.

John Richardson notes that Holder is getting close to being issued a contempt citation, and that there are no coincidences when it comes to BATFE dragging forward the Mexican Gun Canard once again.

Larry Elder, of the Los Angeles Daily News, notes that gun owners are wise to fear Obama. Anyone who can count to five can see that, which apparently does not include many members of the media.

Eugene Volokh notes a Second Amendment case in Hawaii that could mean someone convicted of misdemeanor harassment, that did not involve violence, cannot be denied the right to own a firearm.

The Problems of Real Grassroots

If NRA is really responsible for duping ordinary gun owners with the rhetoric of fear, as our opponents claim, then why does NRA so often have to engage in rumor control? I thought it was the NRA had sole-proprietorship on fear mongering with gun owners. So where do these rumors come from? More importantly, where are the rumors from our opponents about our bills that will legalize RPGs on every street corner?

Punishment: Take Away their PBR and Lululemon

Via Uncle, we learn that NYC hipsters decided to make a movie about surviving off the grid. To do so, they decided that it would be a brilliant idea to illegally kill two deer outside of deer season and without a license. Their defense is that they didn’t even know there were hunting regulations.

The crew was practicing yoga inside the farm’s main house one day when someone spotted a herd of deer in the neighboring field. They grabbed a rifle and camera and ran outside, Dickinson said.

Actor Paul Manza, a 34-year-old Brooklyn yoga instructor who plays “Paul” the yoga instructor in the film and had no prior acting or hunting experience, pulled the trigger. It was unclear who owned the rifle or whether it was registered.

The bullet pierced one deer and passed into a second one behind it, killing the first deer and wounding the second one, Manza and Dickinson said. The crew chased the second deer into the woods and shot it again to put it out of its suffering, Manza said. …

Dickinson said he didn’t think about the legality of hunting and the crew did not secure a permit for the deer hunt — but he added that the film’s publicist, Jenny Lawhorn, is currently in discussions with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Only a jackass from New York City would send a publicist to negotiate something that, according to the article, starts with a $2,000 fine and can potentially include jail time.

A Subtle Message…

He may not be my representative, but I do believe that Representative Stephen Bloom is my favorite lawmaker in Harrisburg. He uses social media frequently to keep in touch with his constituents. Yesterday, he posted a picture on Facebook that you could say highlights his dedication to making use of every possible resource…

I also get Mr. Yuk stickers, which come in extremely handy when reviewing stacks of legislative co-sponsorship memos…

Sights of Beantown

Fortunately, today I managed to get over to the Freedom Trail a bit for some sightseeing before it got dark. Here’s some sights around Boston:

The driver let me drive the water taxi over this morning. First time I’ve handled a boat since I was 18, I think, when my Uncle kept a boat on the Chesapeake in Maryland. I was surprised by this, I figured in Nanny America, there’d be police waiting her haul her off. She even offered to let me dock it.

I’m a Hunter, But …

Looks like the media is using a lot of disinformation about NRA and what it stands for to drag out, one again, the “I’m a gun owner… but” meme:

On its Web site, the N.R.A. calls itself the “largest pro-hunting organization in the world.” Yet during election season, the N.R.A. makes endorsements based largely on candidates’ voting records on gun control — with little if any concern for their views on other issues of interest to hunters.

I’m sure it will be news to the Board’s hunting policy committee, and also to ILA’s hunting policy department, that NRA doesn’t do anything for hunting. You have a lot of these lefty hunters that think the only thing matters is an environmental record, as is the animal rights whack jobs and access to land are not big issues.

It sounds like she’s new to hunting, so I’ll give her the benefit of doubt, but if she thinks they won’t go after her hunting rifle high-precision long range sniper rifle, she’s delusional. If she thinks groups like PETA or HSUS won’t ban or restrict hunting as much as possible, she’s delusional. I would welcome a serious discussion with this author on the issues, because I think she’s missing the big picture. The hunting community is an ecosystem, and a very unhealthy one at that. If the health of that community isn’t freshly nurtured, hunting is finished. Hunters will be reduced in numbers until they no longer retain the political power to stave off attacks, and if Lily Raff McCaulou has her way, I will not be in that fight, because as a shooter, you’ve acquiesced to banning the guns I shoot with, so why would I then lift a finger when you’re finally eaten last?

Early Response to SYG Laws in Louisiana

This bill, to ease SYG in Louisiana, is interesting in what it requires:

The bill, which received unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary C Committee, would require a “full investigation” by law enforcement and coroners in any death that results from violence or under suspicious circumstances in which a claim of self-defense is raised.

So only when self-defense is raised should we expect a full and thorough investigation? Someone is found face down in a swamp, and we can short change that investigation, eh Senator? This sounds like a mandate that the police be competent, and how do you enforce that? Another bill has already failed in committee:

Another bill inspired by Martin’s killing, Senate Bill 719, did not make it out of committee. Sen. Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb, D-Baton Rouge, said her bill was aimed at closing a potential loophole in the stand your ground law that would allow people to start a fight, try to withdraw and then claim self-defense if the other person continued to come after them.

That’s a “loophole?” I believe traditionally, and correct me if I’m wrong, you lawyers out there, but you could always regain faultlessness if you attempted to retreat from the fight, but your opponent kept pressing the fight.

And that is my big fear, but also a bit of a comfort; that our opponents will not merely try to repeal SYG, but will try to gut self-defense laws even further. It is a fear, because I always worry they could be successful. It is a comfort, because this kind of overreach is what’s ruined their fortunes in the past.

Sexy Sells – Booth Babes, Not So Much at NRA Annual Meeting

Leave it to me to dig into the ongoing controversy over booth babes at gun convention and shows. John Richardson provided a little photographic evidence that some booths got the “babe” concept very wrong. Too much make-up, over-the-top jewelry, absurdly out of place clothing, and enough skin to offend the family crowds that walked through the exhibit floor. Don’t even get me started on the look that qualifies more as a sneer than a smile.

She wasn’t the only one hired by exhibitors that was a complete miss on the concept of using attractive women to get more people to the booth. I saw one woman on Sunday who was wearing underwear over the top of her skin-tight leggings that she took a razor blade to so that they didn’t hide much. Yes, underwear as outerwear. Mix that with some very bad highlights, and that’s not what too many people call sexy. Certainly, none of the guys I was talking to in the area were looking at it with anything complimentary to say.

As a fairly feminist woman, I actually have very little objection to idea that sex sells – especially sexy women. But sexy is doesn’t mean trashy. The funny thing is that I don’t think there’s even a thin line between the two – it’s usually pretty damn clear. Night club and strip club wear isn’t exactly a fit for the NRA crowd. There were other booth babes in clothes that snuggly hugged the curves and even dipped to show quite a bit of cleavage who didn’t cross the line into trashy. They tied their look to the look of the booth and the gear they were trying to sell.

I would also say that even though NRA’s Annual Meeting is more family-focused than something like SHOT, women aren’t inherently turned off by the idea of selling sex. This week, the NYT Bestseller list for fiction has erotica with a BDSM focus written for women at the numbers 1, 2, and 4 spots. (On a side note, did John Grisham ever expect to come in behind a novel with a plot created for no other purpose than putting the characters in a position to have sex again?) Women are fine with it and even appear to be spending big money on it. It doesn’t offend the vast majority of us. But trashy? Yeah, not the same as sexy. It is a turn-off, and it will make women (and some men) walk in the other direction.

One of the best uses of sexy to sell was a booth I passed far too quickly to notice the brand, but their ads used pinup-style models. A well-done pinup look for an ad or a booth babe is pretty much a way to win the sex sells game at a venue like the NRA exhibit hall. It’s sexy, it harkens back to a time of patriotism, and it doesn’t have to push the boundaries of anyone in attendance in order to get attention.

I don’t know what it was about the exhibit hall this year, but the times I did notice booth babes, it tended to be the wrong reasons. Usually, it’s not that much of a problem at this event. I don’t quite know what happened if the company standards went down temporarily, if the selection of ladies to hire in St. Louis isn’t quite the same as other convention cities, or if generally this is the path some companies want to take in the future. I sincerely hope it isn’t the latter option.

Opposition to Stand Your Ground

Evan Nappen posted a rather humorous bit of satire about opponents to Stand Your Ground that’s about the “Turn Tail and Run” law.

Senator Lousenburg (D. NJ) has filed the “Turn Tail and Run” (TTR) bill in the U.S. Senate which, if passed, would preempt ALL State “Stand Your Ground” (SYG) laws. The new bill would impose a national duty to retreat at all times when one encounters a criminal threat or is about to become a victim of violent crime. New York City Mayor Bloomingidiot has made passage of the “TTR” a centerpiece of his national “Second Chance at Shoot First” campaign. The mayor heartily approved of TTR, especially since bodyguards of celebrities, VIP’s, and political figures were exempted.

There’s more, so go read the whole thing.