A while ago, someone at NRA e-mailed me talking about how they managed to get some pro-gun language inserted into the Defense Authorization Act, mostly under the radar. Sadly, before I could report on it, the Arizona mass shooting happened, and there wasn’t much room to squeeze it in. Chris in Alaska found the easter egg. Basically it prohibits the military from enacting their own gun control for military personnel while off property controlled by the Department of Defense. The National Defense Authorization was passed in lame duck, and signed by the President.
Category: Guns
Glock Sales on Fire
Lucky Gunner reports. Reports from all over the country are coming in about significant sales boosts. This essentially means the only thing the media and anti-gun folks are accomplishing with their blood dancing is more gun sales, as people hedge against the possibility we could see a ban. If we could track such things, I would bet Glock 30 rounds magazines are flying off the shelf too.
One unintended, and perhaps positive consequence of NICS is actually knowing. It’s one thing to tell the politicians we’re a force to be reckoned with, but when they start seeing the numbers come out of NICS in response to fear in the community, it’s hard to doubt it. I bet our opponents didn’t think of that when they shoved the Brady Act down out throats.
Magazine Change
Joe shows that it can be done quite quickly:
I am not as quick or trained as Joe, but probably not slow enough to matter. Remember, in mass shootings, there’s been plenty of cases where the shooters have reloaded multiple times. In this case, people who understood guns, and knew to take advantage of a botched reload, were around to stop the guy. We were lucky.
Dear Gun Control Folks,
You can stop the blood dance now. It ain’t happening. Give up. You have lost.
Hat Tip, Instapundit.
Where Is NRA?
Joan Peterson wants to know. If the shooter had been African-American, would you ask where the NAACP is? If he had been gay, would you ask where the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is? If he had been Jewish, where B’nai B’rith is? Would Exxon Mobil have to explain themselves if he had filled a super soaker full of gasoline and burned 5 people to death? Would Ford have to explain if he drove his car into the crowd? Would you demand the ACLU make a statement explaining their role in defending the disgusting speech of Fred Phelps?
Why does the NRA need to have something to say about a whack job murdering people? Why isn’t “Anything other than prayers for the victims and their families at this time would be inappropriate,” appropriate in this situation? Careful. Your bigotry is showing. We don’t owe you a debate. Introduce your bills in Congress, and watch us make sure they go nowhere.
Quote of the Day
“In the wake of these kind of incidents, the trick is to move quickly,” said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, one of the gun control groups working with McCarthy’s office.
Never let a crisis go to waste. These people are unbelievable.
Backpedaling
SayUncle reports on this Reason article that shows GOA’s Larry Pratt backpedaling on his statement to Fox that indicated he did not support gun rights for permanent legal residents. He’s claiming he position was misstated. Except in the first comment over at Uncle’s, we have a response that indicates that was not the case.
This looks like a case of Pratt not expecting quite the backlash he did, and backpedaling.
Don’t Blame Politics, Blame Guns
That act, which followed an attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life, requires that background checks be conducted on individuals before they can buy a firearm from a federally licensed dealer, manufacturer or importer, unless an exception applies.
Despite his obvious troubles, Loughner didn’t have a criminal record, so he was easily able to get a gun. And what a gun: He used a Glock 9mm pistol, modified with a high-capacity magazine that fires 33 rounds. These types of high-capacity magazines were outlawed by the 1994 assault-weapons ban. That ban expired in 2004.
THAT ALLOWED HIM to convert his rage from a single shot that might have missed his target into a deadly bloodbath whose victims included a 9-year-old girl.
Again, the assault weapons ban didn’t ban anything. It banned manufacture, and exempted police agencies. I got plenty of 30 round magazines legally during the ban. The Glock 19 is probably one of the most common handguns around today. Certainly it is very common among police agencies. There’s nothing odd or particularly deadly about it that’s not true of most other firearms. Then you have the lawmakers and anti-gun folks:
Robyn Thomas, executive director of Legal Community Against Violence, which was formed after the 101 California St. killings, said such weapons have “absolutely no legitimate sporting purpose or self-defense purpose.”
OK then, so your bill isn’t going to have an exemption for police officers then, right? If this is true, I see no reason for the police to have them either.
Eliminationist Symbolism from the Brady Campaign
Thanks to Todd Vandermyde for pointing this out, but it would seem our friends at the Brady Campaign have used violent target images themselves:
Remember, this is the same organization who’s President just said, “Sarah Palin used gun “target” metaphors encouraging voters to defeat Rep. Giffords and others.” Pot, meet Kettle.
Hat tip to Carl from Chicago for helping put together this post.
UPDATE: You can find the full Brady mailing here.
Concealed Carry Holder Tried to Help
Looks like there was someone there:
After all, when he realized there was an incident occurring at the Tucson Safeway supermarket Saturday where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was holding a constituent event, Mr. Zamudio thought he could help, since he was legally carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic.
“If I’d gone down there sooner, maybe I could have shot him myself,” Mr. Zamudio, age 24, said in a phone interview Sunday night.
Mr. Zamudio, who works at a Tucson art gallery, was at a nearby Walgreen’s buying cigarettes when he heard the shots and immediately turned and ran toward the commotion. “In that moment, I didn’t think about it. I just reacted.”
He saw the blank face of the suspected shooter—”almost a smirk.”
By the time Mr. Zamudio was in close range, others had wrestled the suspect to the ground. Mr. Zamudio helped hold him down.
Didn’t quite get there in time. No doubt our opponents would say this was a dangerous individual trying to be a hero, and only would have racked up more bodies in his incompetence, but if one wants to be a hero by shooting someone who is actively murdering a crowd of people, including children, go right ahead.