Guns – Page 474 – Shall Not Be Questioned

NRA Doesn’t Do Squat for _____________

Fill in the blank, and you have a complaint I’ve heard for years, especially from those in anti-gun states.

Today, we were putting a few things away when Sebastian came across the 2010 annual reports from The NRA Foundation & Civil Rights Defense Fund. And guess what? There’s hard evidence that they are working in whatever state you’re bitching about.

We’ll take New Jersey since it’s nearby and that’s what I hear the most bitchin’ about these days. For you New Jersey shooters, The NRA Foundation spent more than $57,000 in the Garden State for shooting programs in 2010. Those grants went to 21 different organizations. The grants are only available because of participation by gun owners in programs like Friends of NRA. You get to be all social-like, laugh with fellow gun nuts, win guns, win other cool stuff, and know that your tax-deductible expenditures at said event are coming right back to your state for programs and groups in need of a little extra funding to reach new & experience shooters and get them into the community.

For the Civil Rights Defense Fund, New Jersey had 9 funded cases last year. Yes, most of them are shared expenses, but the NRA is putting up some of its limited legal dough to support the court cases for New Jersey gun owners.

Not-Quite-Gun Porn

Today’s theme is retro signs. From what I can tell, these signs aren’t actually vintage, they are just replicas. But that’s okay since the cute factor is still relevant.

One Thing to Like About Florida Gag Law

It’s pissing off the right people, and there’s something to be said for that. I will still oppose it on constitutional and civil liberties grounds, but if makes editorial boards of papers like the Boston Globe wet themselves, I’ll still enjoy the spectacle:

But there are good reasons why the American Academy of Pediatrics considers inquiries about guns to be important in protecting children. Doctors can advise inexperienced parents on ways that young children might accidentally play with guns, or that older kids might be tempted to use them.

And really, I don’t have a problem if this was all doctors did, provided they also inform the parents about the dangers of bathtubs, swimming pools, and dangerous household chemicals, which kill far more kids accidentally every year than guns do. Homicide is not, and can’t be an excuse for doctors to ask parents about guns, because it will do nothing to prevent or ameliorate that kind of social ill.

Let us also not forget what the American Academy of Pediatrics position is on firearms ownership. It’s not just about advising parents of the dangers, and helping them minimize them. It’s about promoting prohibition, and using their exalted profession to bring down social shame on patients for gun ownership. I don’t agree with this gag law, but consider this a shot across your bow, AAP.

Guns and the Mentally Ill

The New York Times has a rather lengthy piece on the subject, with examples they found of people having their rights restored who pretty clearly were still disturbed. No mention of how many people have had their rights restored and are doing fine. Several of the examples were committed involuntarily for being suicidal, had their rights restored, and then killed themselves. I don’t consider this much of an example because someone who was committed for being suicidal should be more prone to having rights restored than someone who is schizophrenic and on medication. I’m far more understanding of right restoration for transient mental health issues like depression, PTSD, and other manageable conditions. I’m open to the notion that some states may not have good procedures for rights restoration for mental infirmities, but one of the examples appearing repeatedly is California, a state relatively strict when it comes to firearms, especially with regards to mental health.

It’s relatively unsurprising that with enough digging you can find example of where the system failed. No one wants to do a story on a solider who was committed for severe PTSD, got treatment, got better, got his rights restored, and then went on to live as an ordinary citizen and responsible gun owner. There’s no story there.

If You Watch Nothing Else This July 4th

Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video, but go watch this symposium between Prof. Robert Churchill, author of To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrant’s Face: Libertarian Political Violence and the Origins of the Militia Movement, and Joshua Horwitz, co-author of Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea, and also Executive Director of CSGV. This is great insight into the kind of philosophy Horwitz promotes. He is truly an enemy of liberty.

UPDATE: The more I look at Horwitz’s insurrectionist idea, the more I’m impressed at his straw working abilities. This is one of the most elaborate and impressive straw men I’ve seen erected. The idea he’s arguing against isn’t even really something most of us believe. It’s a caricature erected only in Horwitz’s mind.

More Independence Day Insurrectionism

Rumor has it, on this day, 235 years ago, a bunch of right-wing militia whack jobs signed their name to this document which supports this insane insurrectionist idea promoted by the NRA:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Sometimes I really believe our opponents would probably rather still be British. It’s hard to believe the ideas they peddle without thinking that. Of course, they will never say that, because that puts them further outside the mainstream than they already are. But it’s hard for me to see how you accept the United States of America when its founding document is essentially a justification for violently overthrowing its previous government.

Want to Make the Anti-Gunners Cry?

Then buy a ticket to our upcoming Friends of NRA banquet! Seriously, here are the top 5 reasons your attendance at this first year dinner will make Ladd Everitt, Dennis Hennigan, and Sarah Brady shed tears all evening long while you’re surrounded by fellow shooting sports enthusiasts.

1. Let’s face it, we’re putting guns in the hands of the next generation. Of course, we’re training them how to use them safely.

But training doesn’t matter because they see no difference between the girl above and thugs on the street.

2. Because even if we have the bare minimum number of people in the room in order to raise even $1 for the shooting sports, it’s still more people than they can put in a room in downtown DC. Their fundraisers probably look a little more like this:

3. The shooting sports embraced by NRA are perceived to be part of the “insurrectionist” mindset using scary “assault weapons.” Ladd Everitt might need to add Camp Perry to his Insurrectionist Timeline.

4. Because a child riding the NRA tricycle is what haunts their dreams. Kids! Guns! Except not guns! Just letters! It’s scary!

5. If you buy the “Night of Liberty” exclusive print that highlights the Boston Tea Party, Josh Sugarmann might feature you in VPC’s next Googled report on the evils of NRA members. He might even rank you as more dangerous than the person who wears the XXXL t-shirts.

Come on, I know more than a few of the readers here are from Southeast PA and Central Jersey. Let’s get together and make the other side weep as they fall asleep knowing that they are losing the cultural war on guns and our rights. You don’t have to be an NRA member to attend, this is all about showing some love for the programs that help train new shooters, get youth involved in competitions, and help area clubs run successful programs, especially those like Women on Target. This is a celebration of the fun we have on the range and why we all initially got into this movement.

Prepared Testimony in Cummings Hearing

As you may have heard, Rep. Elijah Cummings and his other sympathetic friends in the Democratic Party had a closed symposium designed to deflect attention off the gun walking scandal surrounding Fast and Furious. The conclusion was meant to result in this:

This bill allows law enforcement officials to track the sales of multiple guns, end unlicensed gun purchases, formally define gun trafficking, and ease evidentiary requirements to revoke gun licenses.

I’m very interested in to see language in this bill just to figure out what they are trying to slip past. I can promise you that criminals will not be the target of whatever bill comes out of this, given the players involved in this charade. You can find the prepared testimony of participants here. The hearings were off limits to cameras, as I am aware NRA News attempted to get in and were denied. Likely they don’t want to give us time to organize opposition to whatever they are cooking up.

I Thought Cops Favored Gun Control?

Local police in Wisconsin favor the new concealed carry law. Shocking what happens when you bother to look beyond big city police chiefs appointed by big city politicians.

Veteran Denied Second Amendment Rights

Garry McCarthy think federal gun laws are racist. By contrast Chicago’s are just fine by him. For Chicago’s un-racist gun laws, they seem to be denying an awful lot of African Americans:

He once legally owned a gun, but lost his privileges roughly 15 years ago after firing a gun in his backyard to scare a pack of dogs. Since then, he said, there’s been incident after incident at his home, including fires, broken windows and other disturbances.

I heard his attorney last night on Cam & Company, and his line of argument is that such a minor ordinance violation, such as this one, cannot be grounds for denying a fundamental constitutional right. That sounds like a good line of reasoning.