Bemoaning Carry Restrictions

Democrats are starting to use the fact that most concealed carry bills in them contain certain exceptions, such as for schools and courthouses, using this as proof that carrying is just plain dangerous. From Wisconsin:

Some Democrats pointed to the exemptions as proof that allowing concealed carry does introduce a new set of dangers.

“If this bill helps make Wisconsin safer, then why are there any exceptions?” said Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville.

You really want to make this argument? We’d be happy to introduce a bill that contained no exceptions. Careful what you argue.

NRA Dismissed from Suit

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal that ruled NRA did not have standing to challenge the Lost and Stolen ordinances appearing around the Commonwealth. This basically means that a lawsuit will have to be brought by someone actually prosecuted under some of these ordinances, which as far as I know has not yet occurred. For a law our opponents tell us is an important law enforcement tool, badly needed to fight gun trafficking, you’d think they could point to at least one prosecution?

“Teacher and Counselor Showed a Severe Lapse in Judgment”

So says a spokesman for Oakland, California schools. We would ordinarily call these individuals hypocrites, in addition to people who lack judgement. I’m sure the teacher and counselor will be out of a job as a result of this. As soon to be freshly minted gun criminals, I would encourage them to apply or a position at the Brady Campaign, since it’s hard to see how this particular lapse in judgement is any worse than what Plaxico Burriss did.

Joe Huffman on Brady and Plaxico

Noting that Plaxico got pinched by likely unconstitutional laws that Brady support:

I find this very much like a person of color married to a Caucasian getting a divorce and supporting a white separatist group after getting beat up by members of the KKK for their choice of marriage partners.

Pretty much. I greatly disapprove of Burris’ choices in regards to his methods of carry, but in a just world he would have gotten a fine for carrying irresponsibly (no holster and drinking) and that would have been the end of it. He only hurt himself. Had he hurt someone else I would suggest the law could apply more sanctions for hurting someone else with his own responsibility.

Joining the Fray

The Brady Campaign is now joining Coalition to Ban Handguns in their desire to see the attention shifted away from a large government-sponsored gun running scandal onto Congressman Issa and the need for new gun control laws:

It’s never been more obvious what a scam their phony concern about “gun violence” is. They don’t give a crap about gun violence. All they care about is restricting the 2A to the greatest extent possible.

As Cam Edwards is actively pointing out as I’m writing this, there’s no amount of new gun laws that’s going to help if the federal government is actively encouraging their undermining.

Our Opponents Should be Ashamed

I’m astonished to see Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, formerly the National Coalition to Ban Handguns, trying to help ATF and the Administration find political cover over the Fast and Furious scandal. Again, I remain very skeptical that this organization cares a whit about stopping gun violence, or they’d be just as outraged at this practice as we are:

Understand what was going on here. There were multiple dealers along the border who did not want to make sales to people those dealers knew to be trafficking in guns illegally, but yet were told to allow those sales to proceed by the ATF. One or more of those guns was used in the murder of a Border Patrol Agent, and countless numbers are no doubt murdering people in Mexico. CSGV’s attempts to focus this issue back on Issa, off ATF, and onto our gun laws is not only dishonest, it’s disgusting for a group that properties to care about stopping gun violence.

This kind of attitude clearly shows that Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is an utter fraud. If they really cared about gun violence they’d certainly want to get to the bottom of what is, to give ATF/DOJ leadership more benefit of doubt than they probably deserve, employment of highly questionable law enforcement tactics that have lead to the death of individuals.

CSGV would do well to understand we have a right to own guns in this country. That necessarily takes a lot of their preferred policy prescriptions off the table. That’s a hard pill for them to swallow but it is a fact. If they truly want to be about preventing gun violence, they would be helping to understand what truly happened. But as it is, they are still living in the past, and perpetrating the fraud that they care about gun violence, rather than gun control.

Gun Owners are Irresponsible Drunks

John Richardson highlights some new research by Garen Wintermute showing that gun owners are disproportionately drunks. What does it say about what kind of culturally condescending bigot you are when you even do major research to ask that kind of question? Did Wintermute ever perhaps consider that alcohol consumption was more tied to income? We know that income and gun ownership correlate. Both hooch and guns are something that takes a certain amount of income to partake in. But obviously, here, the goal is to show most gun owners are too irresponsible to be so.

Lucky Gunner Blogger Shoot: The Trailer

I turned my collection of videos of the Lucky Gunner Blogger Shoot a few weekends ago, taken on my early generation iPhone 3G, to Bitter. Unfortunately she didn’t feel like she could do much with them, since it was pretty shaky. She decided to take the best of them and make a trailer. I think it turned out pretty well!

Castle Doctrine Passes Senate Committee

This is great news. The Senate Committee was most hostile. I’ve been unplugged enough I forgot to update everyone that there was going to be a vote. It passed 13-1 out of committee.

More importantly, there’s no Florida Loophole fix attached to the bill, for those who were insistent that the deal was in the works to do that.

Now it’s onto the Senate floor where hopefully this will gain quick passage and be off to Governor Corbett.