Guns – Page 453 – Shall Not Be Questioned

We’re Not Indifferent …

… to gun violence. Only to hysterical individuals like our opponents who lately seem to be following the old adage of “When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.”

As quoted by the Associated Press he said the way the bullets come out of those AK47s is scary.

I don’t know about you, but if it’s aimed in my direction, the way bullets come out of any gun is scary.

That contention is that with everyone loaded for bear, we would stop a lot of these unwarranted attacks on civilization. Right! What the man who might have been a hero did is follow an instinct that nine out of ten other persons in his shoes would. When under assault by superior firepower, the best solution is to duck and run for the nearest cover and stay there.

He was not under assault. He was in his BBQ joint across the street. None of the people who were under assault were armed.

When he was through, he came outside and further demonstrated his prowess by spraying bullets through shopping center windows before killing himself as the police arrived. That brought the gun’s total for the day to four including the shooter. Not terribly impressive considering what those things can do.

That’s because all guns do is fire small bits of lead at extreme velocities. It’s the killer’s tactics that make the big difference, and if the killer has good tactics, he can easily accomplish his feat with matches and gasoline if that’s all that’s available. What keeps body counts down in this situation is a fast response by other armed individuals, such as the police, and the incompetence of the shooter at target selection.

How’s that for action Wayne La Pierre? For the un-anointed in the gun religion, he is the chief heat packer for the National Rifle Association and its followers. You know those who oppose any reasonable restraint on the dissemination of firearms here and across borders like Mexico unless they can find a way to use the issue to beat up on law enforcement.

The dismissal of the Fast and Furious scandal tells me that Dan K. Thomasson doesn’t give a whit about gun violence either. None of them do, and you’re a fool if you believe the facade. Guns are icky, and we have to get them out of society. That’s what they stand for. Nothing else.

NRA Backed 2A Litigation

They have made a list, which is good, because I can never remember who’s funding what these days. I believe this is just ILA supported litigation, and does not include litigation being funded by the Civil Rights Defense Fund.

Third Gun Linked to F&F

Fox has the details.

Brady Exploiting 9/11 Anniversary for Political Gain

You’d think the anniversary of 9/11 would be above political posturing, and should be about remembering the victims, rather than pushing a political agenda,Â but pretty clearly the Brady Campaign does not think so. Have they no shame? Pushing bills after a high profile tragedy is standard operating procedure for the Brady folks, but it’s hard fathom anyone could think attempting to usurp the tenth anniversary of 9/11 for political gain is anything other than disgusting.

And they wonder why they no longer have the pull with the main stream media they used to. I don’t think even the left-leaning media would want to touch a story that would appear to try to divert attention away from the tenth anniversary of a huge national tragedy to focus attention on a group’s public policy agenda that is not even remotely related to that tragedy. This is really shameful.

Plea Deal in Grizzly Killing

I did not cover the original incident, where a man shot a grizzly bear that was on his property. Looks like federal prosecutors have agreed to let him pay a 1000 dollar civil penalty in exchange for dropping the more serious criminal charges. I’m sure, after the publicity this case has brought, the U.S. Attorney could be pretty confident it would be tough to find a jury that would convict. I sure as hell wouldn’t.

IHOP Killer’s AK Chinese Made

The supply of Norinco’s on the open market hasn’t been plentiful for almost 20 years, so it’s surprising MSNBC is reporting on the tracing efforts, suggesting that the gun is a Norinco AK. Since it’s traced to a dealer that’s out of business, it obviously wasn’t smuggled in. Dealers are required to send their 4473 records and their A&D records to ATF when they go out of business, so the gun should be traceable, ultimately. But if it’s a Norinco, I’d say a strong possibility it’s a black market gun just based on how long ago it would have been sold. I doubt a Norinco in the hands of a collector is going to be let go of easily, since they are rare these days. They can still be had for 500-600 bucks on the legal market, but it’s been a while since I saw one at a gun show, or in a gun shop.

Picking on MSNBC a bit, it’s not true the federal assault weapons ban ever affected Norinco AKs. They were all imported before the ban went into effect, and were therefore grandfathered under the federal assault weapons ban. Norinco AKs were actually banned in 1993, rather than 1994. It is a mistake to suggest the federal AWB had anything to do with these rifles.

McCain Calling for Hearings in F&F

I was wondering what was prompting McCain to go all “maverick”Â on us again, but perhaps it’s because he planned to call for hearings in Fast and Furious, and wanted to show he wasn’t anyone’s bitch.

IHOP Killer Had History of Mental Illness

Clayton Cramer noted earlier today:

Keep on eye on this story. I would be very surprised if Sencion was not well known to police for previous mental illness problems. I would be surprised if there is not a history of observational holds, followed by release because he was not an imminent danger.

So far his prediction would seem to be bearing out:

Family members told authorities that Sencion had a history of mental problems dating back to age 16, the official said.

Also this:

Eduardo Sencion, 32, had been taken into custody in South Lake Tahoe in 2000 under a California law that allows police to hold a person who presents a danger to themselves or others, South Lake Tahoe police spokesman Lt. David Stevenson said.

There’s no background check system that’s going to work to disarm mentally ill people like this if authorities refuse to act. Even under California law, this would only have disabled him from buying a firearm for five years. Being held under this particular California statute is not a federal disqualification, nor should it be, since the amount of due-process afforded is very low.

Our opponents will hew and haw that we must turn the country into a giant padded cell, rather than making sure authorities and the mental health system understand the importance of getting these people proper mental health treatment, and, when necessary, getting them off the street. It’s not going to do us any good if they switch from using guns to matches and gasoline. You have to get the mentally ill off the streets, or this kind of thing is going to continue occurring.

Warm Bodies Wanted

Some of you may know we’re hosting a Bucks County Friends of the NRA event in a week, next Thursday, September 15th at 5:30PM. But this is a new event, and we’re running short on the numbers needed to make the event a success. If you live in the Philadelphia Metro Area, and you can spare some time to come help out NRA’s shooting programs, we’d love to have folks attend. We are going to try to have an SiH table, if enough folks are interested in attending. There are raffles, and because attendance is pretty low, the chances of walking away with a gun are going to be a lot higher than at some more established dinners. But even if you don’t walk away with a gun, it’s for a good cause.

For those not familiar with the Friends programs, the money raised at these events goes straight to shooting sports programs. It doesn’t go to pay salaries, or to NRA’s political activities. Half the money raised by PA Friends’ dinners stays here in Pennsylvania to support shooting programs here. If you look at the programs Friends’ supports, it’s basically aboutÂ getting more guns into the hands of kids, which has a well known effect on our opponents.

If you’d like to buy a ticket, or get a friend to buy a ticket, you can follow the link here. Bitter and I would be most appreciative of anyone who can come.

It’s a Matter of the 14th Amendment

The Heller decision pretty clearly and unambiguously said that there was a Second Amendment right to bear arms, in addition to keeping them in the home. The McDonald decision incorporated that Second Amendment right through the 14th Amendment, so that it applies to both federal, state and local governments equally.

Cliff Schecter, a ~~paid shill~~ strategic advisor for Mayor Bloomberg’s group of illegal mayors, apparently has never heard of it. Let me remind Mr. Schecter of an important part of the 14th Amendment, from Section 5: “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” I would like to note the language of H.R. 822:

(3) The Congress has the power to pass legislation to protect against infringement of all rights protected under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

(9) Among the purposes of this Act is the protection of the rights, privileges, and immunities guaranteed to a citizen of the United States by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Regardless of all the policy hysteria in Mr. Schecter’s op-ed, constitutional rights trump all but the most dire policy arguments. The fact of the matter is, anyone who’s not disqualified for crimes committed from exercising their right ought to be able to do it without regards to state borders. My right to free speech, free religion, or right be free of unreasonable searches and seizures does not appear and disappear as I move from state to state. Why is the Second Amendment any different?

But I understand why Schecter is working this issue, because it scares the hell out of Mayor Bloomberg. Well, tell your boss, Mr. Schecter: we are coming for his city’s gun laws, and we’re going to be relentless in this. We’re going to lay waste to the 20th century gun rights monstrosity that has been erected in New York City. Those laws are, and always have been, unconstitutional. There’s no amount of hewing and hawing on his part, or on the part of people he’s paying to hew and haw on his behalf, that’s going to stop us.