Guns – Page 444 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Shall-Issue Nation

No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money has a stunning visual of the progress of shall-issue reform over the year. Still, a lot of people live in may-issue states. To be more accurate, you’d have to break this out by jurisdiction, however. There are jurisdictions in California now that are shall-issue. More than ever before. That’s going to cover a lot of people. Delaware is also a permissive may-issue state, especially in Kent and Sussex counties. Many jurisdictions in New York will issue carry permits on a shall-issue basis. Same with Massachusetts.

Of the states that are may-issue as a matter of law, only New Jersey, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Maryland are broadly restrictive on a state-wide basis. So as a practical matter, the picture looks even better than it would appear here. Still, it’s pretty apparent that carry is the next major battle we’ll be fighting in the Courts, and it’ll be interesting to see what direction the Court decides to go in. I think most likely, it’ll be a recognition that carry is protected, but with the states retaining a fair degree of leeway in regulating how arms are permitted to be worn. It would be interesting, in that case, to see how many restrictive jurisdictions legalize open carry, but keep their concealed weapons licensing regimes highly restrictive. I’m also interested in seeing how the courts deal with carry in a vehicle.

Getting a Gun in DC

SayUncle has the photos, and a link to a story from a Washington Times reporter who set out to test the system. What other constitutional right do we allow to be regulated in such a manner?

Careful Picking up Spent Brass in Texas Without Permission

Looks like the legislature, likely trying to deter theft of metals from infrastructure, inadvertently made it a felony to pick up brass from a range that isn’t yours. Seems to me it would be possible to make a statute to apply to theft of metal necessary for the operation of public works, that would cover most conceivable situations.

We’re Winning, Again

A major paper publishes a story about how homicide rates are not linked to gun control. Did I mention the major paper is Canadian? Once you turn the issue from one where the media and other powers that be say “Well, gun control, of course,” to turning into a legitimate issue of contention, you’ve automatically started to win. Canadian gunnies are obviously a long way off from recovering serious lost ground, but they are moving in the right direction.

Our opponents only survive in “Well, gun control, of course,” political climates. Once you can shine light on the futility, ineffectiveness, and often outright intellectual and factual dishonesty of their positions, you will start pulling in more and more allies.

Parody of MeetTheNRA

I have more ideas than I have time to implement, unfortunately. But looking over the latest creation of our sad and pathetic friends at Coalition to Stop Gun ~~Violence~~ Ownership, I’m struck by how easy this Meet the NRA site would be to parody, given how pathetic many of their gotchas are. I was thinking the parody would go something like this, picking Bob Smith as a generic name to act as a stand in for any given Board member:

In 2011, Bob Smith walked into a bar for a drink. Two hours later, well known white supremacist and conspiracy theorist Bill Halfwit came into the same bar, and reportedly sat in the same seat as Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith had left his attachÃ© case under the bar. Halfwit turned the case into the bartender, and it was later returned to Mr. Smith. This demonstrates the links NRA Board Member have with the white supremacist movement. It was also reported the AttachÃ© case was made by a company that employes child labor in China.

Or maybe something like this:

In 2008, an article written by Mr. Bob Smith of the NRA Board appearing in the February 2007 issue of American Rifleman was found at a shooting bench. Three hours before, the Citizen’s Militia of Bungsucker County had been drilling at the range, occupying the majority of shooting benches. Mr. Smith’s ties to right-wing militias are clear.

Finally:

In 1946, NRA Board Member Bob Smith, just getting started in his career as a criminal defense attorney, defended a one Jimmy Billabob on a tax matter. Billabob, in 1956, gave a speech to his County Sewage Improvement Board favoring a policy segregation, declaring “There ain’t pooh from any colored feller that’s fit to mingle with mine!” During Smith’s career as a defense attorney, he associated with a large number of unsavory characters, declaring that “Every man, even racist men, have a right to fair trial,” as he defended every manner of person from murderers to Klan members. Fortunately, Mr. Smith has since retired from defending murderers, rapists, and Klan members, but rumors of involvement with defending right-wing militias still persist.

All of these are based on actual accusations, and the general tone of the site, but exaggerated to a greater level of ridiculousness make the parody. I think this was meant to help CSGV attract more members of the loony left, and probably also give them a way to fill out their day in a way that will help them forget the fact that they are being pummeled into oblivion by a bunch of people they feel are beneath them. I suspect it’s more the latter. For their sake I hope it is, since we discovered the loony left doesn’t seem to be too fond of their agenda.

Bush Did it Too

That seems to be the latest deflection from the Administration. I’m not really all that concerned about whether there were guns being walked during the Bush Administration too. If that’s the case, a pox on the Bush Administration as well. But Bush isn’t in office, Obama is, and Holder decided to let it continue rather than stopping it. Sorry guys, but trying to deflect the blame isn’t going to cut it. You want to go after Gonzalez or Mukasey? Be my guest. But this isn’t a get out of jail free card.

We’re Winning

Count this among things I’d never thought I’d see even just 5 years ago: editorial in the Denver Post sticking up for gun rights for medical marijuana users. This issue would take care of itself if Congress passed a medical marijuana law, because then those users would no longer be “unlawful.”

Taking the “Apex” out of “Predator”

Clayton Cramer shows just how nutty the State of California is becoming, warning about Mountain Lion predation, but the prohibiting all weapons, and suggesting such things as this:

Do all you can to appear larger. Raise your arms. Open your jacket if you are wearing one. Throw stones, branches, or whatever you can reach without crouching or turning your back. Wave your arms slowly and speak firmly in a loud voice. The idea is to convince the mountain lion that you are not prey and that you may be a danger to it.

Fight back if attacked. Hikers have fought back successfully with sticks, caps, jackets, garden tools, and their bare hands. Since a mountain lion usually tries to bite the head or neck, try to remain standing and face the attacking animal.

For those of you unfamiliar with feline taxonomy, Mountain Lions, also known as Cougars, are the largest of the Felinae subfamily, which includes Cheetah’s, Lynxes and domestic cats. Clayton notes:

And best of all: firearms are strictly prohibited in the nature preserve.Â So, remember, if all else fails, fight the mountain lion in hand-to-hand combat.Â Look, I have hadÂ house catsÂ that made me regret trying to pick them up, and I’m supposed to fight a 150 pound mountain lion unarmed?

I think, unfortunately, there are more than a few kooks in the State of California that would think being preyed upon by a Mountain Lions was just desserts (no pun intended) for a species that rapes the earth as much as we do. As a cat person, I would certainly attempt to avoid killing a cat if I could, but I’d prefer to have the option of a few rounds of .44 Magnum. I think it would prove to be much more effective at convincing Mountain Lions that humans are not to be tangled with than harsh language.

Nifty AR-15 Cleaning Tool

I am intrigued by this tool originally brought to the community by The Firearm Blog:

I am an anal retentive gun cleaner, when I set out to clean. I get over this obsession by trying not to think about it. But when I tear down a gun for cleaning, I want everything immaculate. This tool would seem to be tailor made for the anal retentive.

I say that because I’ve never been convinced that buildup on that particular part mattered in terms of function and reliability of the system. Certainly the rings need to be clean, but do you care about the part that shown being clean in the video?

Quote of the Day

We need more judges like this:

This is a case where emotions run high on both sides of the policy issue because of the vital public safety interests at stake. As one who was born here, grew up in this community in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and has lived and worked in this area almost all of his life, I am acutely aware of the gun, drug, and gang violence that has plagued all of us. As a citizen, I certainly share the goal of Police Chief Cathy Lanier to reduce and hopefully eliminate the senseless violence that has persisted for too long and harmed so many. And I greatly respect the motivation behind the D.C. gun laws at issue in this case. So my view on how to analyze the constitutional question here under the relevant Supreme Court precedents is not to say that I think certain gun registration laws or laws regulating semi-automatic guns are necessarily a bad idea as a matter of policy. If our job were to decree what we think is the best policy, I would carefully consider the issues through that different lens and might well look favorably upon certainÂ regulations of this kind. But our task is to apply the Constitution and the precedents of the Supreme Court, regardless of whether the result is one we agree with as a matter of first principles or policy … A lower-court judge has a special obligation, moreover, to strictly and faithfully follow the lead of the â€œone supreme Courtâ€ established by our Constitution, regardless of whether the judge agrees or disagrees with the precedent.

D.C. believes that its law will help it fight violent crime. Few government responsibilities are more significant. That said, the Supreme Court has long made clear that the Constitution disables the government from employing certain means to prevent, deter, or detect violent crime… In the words of the Supreme Court, the courts must enforce those constitutional rights even when they have â€œcontroversial public safety implications.â€

As I read the relevant Supreme Court precedents, the D.C. ban on semi-automatic rifles and the D.C. gun registration requirement are unconstitutional and may not be enforced. We should reverse the judgment of the DistrictÂ Court and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion. I respectfully dissent.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Heller v. DC, dissenting.