There’s a candidate running in California with this as a major platform. To be honest, these folks don’t annoy me that much because they at least recognize the Second Amendment as an obstacle. They are at least honest in what needs to be done. Suggesting we need to repeal the Second Amendment is at least taking the Constitution and the Bill of Rights seriously, even if I might believe repealing the Second Amendment would disparage the document.
Category: Guns
On Guns & the Presidential Race
We cut the cable at the beginning of the year and happened to be doing internet upgrades, so I didn’t catch last night’s debate. From what I read on Twitter, I didn’t miss much. But then, Paul Erhardt added this commentary on the role of guns – or lack thereof – in the debate:
Not a single question on guns in tonight’s CNN debate despite the fact that New Hampshire is home to 4 major gun/accessory manufacturers that employee 2K+ people. In the Granite State, the classic ‘red meat’ GOP issue is also a mainstream jobs issue. Not to mention two of those companies, HK and Sig Sauer, make guns for the Navy SEALs.
Meanwhile, Jim Geraghty gives us a clue about the really important issues in 2012: “Ah, CNN found the one New Hampshire Republican furious about the U.S. military presence in Germany and South Korea.”
To be clear, I don’t think that guns will be a huge issue in the next presidential race. But considering what an economic boost the gun industry and related outdoor industries provide on top of the civil rights debate surrounding the regulations on ownership and use, it’s probably something that people find a tad more relevant to the next presidential race than the military presence in Germany and South Korea.
AR-15 Fired with Black Magic
Only Cemetery would be crazy enough to work up a load for the AR-15 in black powder. Just keep scrolling. Looks like the black doesn’t quite have the energy to cycle the action, but I just think it’s great to try it at all.
UPDATE: Looking at this a bit further, it looks to me like the black powder isn’t even providing the recoil system with enough gas to unlock the bolt. I’m wondering if a heavier bullet would help force more gas back into the gas system? I don’t know much about the characteristics of black powder, so I’d be reluctant to make suggestions, but to me it looks like there’s just not enough gas pressure in the system. If you were getting enough gas pressure in the system to unlock the bolt, you’d just get a short cycle, so I don’t think the buffer spring is really an issue here. The issue here is that you need a bolt that takes less force to unlock, and that’s an inherent design characteristic. Could be the black just doesn’t have the energy to work an AR-15 gas system.
Weaponomics
Steve at the Firearms Blog describes why the price of small arms in Libya is skyrocketing. IANSA should be welcoming this. Can’t have those rebels hurting anyone, now, can we? The problem in the world has never been that there are too many small arms and light weapons out there, it’s that there are too many small arms and light weapons out there in the wrong hands.
The real question is who’s hands are the right hands? That’s a more difficult question. This country has had, and indeed is founded on, a strong respect for individual liberty and individual worth. There are plenty of oppressed people who, given the power, will become oppressors themselves. In fact, the world probably has a lot more experience with that kind of revolution than it does with something like ours, which was rather unique. Just seeing how hard it is to maintain some semblance of freedom left in this country, I’m not all that comfortable saying freedom is a universal human value. I think there are a great many thing humans value more than freedom.
That said, I believe the kind of massacre happening in Syria and Libya right now is so horrible I’d be willing to roll the dice, and suggest dropping crates of small arms into the parts of the country the rebels control would not be a terrible idea. Every human being, I don’t care what your ideology, has the basic human right to defend themselves against that kind of tyranny and horror, and as free people we ought to be willing to lend a hand.
The Finns Tighten Their Gun Laws
Apparently they’ve raised the age limit on handgun licenses, and made applicants prove they’ve been involved in shooting activities before being issued. At least some Finns realize the Catch 22 here:
“How one can prove that one has been active in a hobby for two years, if one cannot own the equipment,” asked Teemu Simelius, organisation chief at the Finnish hunters’association.
These are the common sense gun laws our opponents would love to bring here.
Shots You Shouldn’t Take
At your leg, because you decided to stupidly Mexican carry a Glock in your sweat pants to a New York night club and drink, without a license to do so. Apparently that makes you qualified to help our opponents. Next time our opponents try to tell you we’re in league with gun criminals, throw this in their faces.
If You’re Presented With the Shot, Take It
I have to disagree with John Richardson about NRA’s attempt to repeal North Carolina’s emergency powers law, which was opposed publicly by Grassroots North Carolina because it would moot their lawsuit.
I’m not in favor of scuttling an opportunity for a legislative fix to preserve a court case that may or may not ultimately win. If you have an opportunity to fix something legislatively, you take it. If you lose the vote in a legislature, you can always take another shot at goal. Fixing bad precedent because you came short on votes for a panel of judges is considerably more difficult. I hope I don’t again have to see again the absurdity of a pro-gun organization coming out against a piece of legislation that would strip states of the ability to disarm people in an emergency.
I’m reminded of the story of Patrick Ferguson, a famous British Sharp Shooter. who at the Battle of Brandywine found an officer in his sights, decided not to take the shot, because it would be ungentlemanly. Lucky for us. Not very lucky for the British cause in North America. The officer he had in his sights was none other than George Washington. The lesson is that when you have that kind of shot lined up, you take it.
Gun Jewelry & Other Vintage Finds
I can’t tell you why, but I was recently inspired to type “NRA” into the search function at Etsy. I know most of you have seen a few examples of gun-related jewelry online, but I have to say that the variety available from the sellers on Etsy is the best I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t stop at your typical bullet-shaped necklace or casing cufflinks. It’s gorgeous repurposed gems and uncommon vintage pieces.
The following items are found in these stores: The Key of A, Gallo Grotte, What Once Was, resellit, With Care, The Sea Change, Andrew Modern, victoriasponge, Black Bird Creative, and Little Gems by Jax.
Our Opponents Make Up History
I really don’t know how anyone can say this with a straight face:
Leave it to Sarah Palin to turn Paul Revere’s ride into a statement about “gun-grabbing.” In a wonder of historical revisionism, she stated about Paul Revere, in one of her famous off-the-cuff blunders,
“He who warned the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms by ringing those bells, and makin’ sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.”
According to a professor of history, appearing on NPR, with the exception of the warning shots, Sarah Palin got her history right. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t know that General Gage was marching on Concord to seize one of the arms caches the colonials had there?
Prof. ALLISON: Yeah. She was making a Second Amendment case. But in fact, the British were going out to Concord to seize colonists’ arms, the weapons that the Massachusetts Provincial Congress was stockpiling there.
So, yeah, she is right in that. I mean, she may be pushing it too far to say this is a Second Amendment case. Of course, neither the Second Amendment nor the Constitution was in anyone’s mind at the time. But the British objective was to get the arms that were stockpiled in Concord.
BLOCK: So you think basically, on the whole, Sarah Palin got her history right.
Prof. ALLISON: Well, yeah, she did. And remember, she is a politician. She’s not an historian. And God help us when historians start acting like politicians, and I suppose when politicians start writing history.
Our opponents are either highly incredulous or ignorant to an astonishing degree. Maybe some combination of the two. Either way, the accusation that we’re attempting to rewrite history here is breathtaking in its ignorance, or outright hypocrisy.
Constitutional Carry Moving Along in Wisconsin
The amended bill, sponsored by state Senator Pam Galloway (R-Wausau), allowed law-abiding citizens to carry concealed without a license for self-defense in the same manner as is available to the citizens of four other states. It also included the option of obtaining a concealed weapons license, for those who must pass through school zones or who want to be able to carry a firearm for self-defense while traveling in a number of other states through reciprocal agreements.
Wisconsin is already a state where one can open carry without a license constitutionally, and the courts seemed primed to declare a right to carry concealed in that manner if the legislature did not address the issue. I’m glad that a constitutional carry bill seems poised to be placed on the Governor’s desk.