Caleb reports on some malfeasance happening in Indiana. I tend to think you should take Democrats as they are individually, but never trust the party. Come to think of it, that advice is probably good for Republicans too.
Category: Guns
Board Candidates
I don’t really want to tell folks who to vote for, and who not to vote for, but since the Nominating Committee has decided to keep him on the ballot, I thought I’d remind everyone of this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSGySNLyACE[/youtube]
Joaquin Jackson is hardly anti-gun. I’d classify him as having varied beliefs on the topic much like many Americans do, and as Cam so thoroughly documents each night on NRA News. He’s also rendered good service to NRA up until that incident, and for that I want to thank him. The problem with what he said is, Jackson isn’t just an ordinary American, he’s a candidate for the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association, and with that comes certain expectations. One of those expectations, at least in my opinion, is you don’t throw high-power shooters and collectors under the bus. I’ll let you all decide for yourself, but for you I present this evidence.
Getting Ready to Go to DC
Posting light this morning. Bitter is busy getting ready for DC, and I have some issues to clean up at work. We’re headed there for the McDonald case, and to meet up and say thank you to some of the people involved in the case. Win or lose, the attorneys and plaintiffs involved in this venture deserve our respect and admiration. I feel the least I can do is be there, if it means being outside, quietly cheering them on. Let’s hope for a great victory.
ATF Seizes Airsoft Guns
SayUncle reports on this. Apparently it’s a very realistic version of the M4. I found a site that sells and demonstrates this Airsoft gun here. It would seem to have all the pin holes in the right place for accepting an M16 fire control group. Not saying it does, because it’s difficult to tell without taking measurements, but if it accepts those parts, plus a standard M16 or M4 upper, it’s effectively an M16 lower receiver, and would be considered a machine gun under the law.
Another video here, which seems to show extra junk in the lower, but it’s hard to tell if it would come out, or is a permanent part of the lower. I’m skeptical that you could punch out the Airsoft fire control on this and drop in an M16 fire control group without any modifications, but it’s really hard to tell without having one in hand to look at. Here’s a close up of the lower.
What do you think? I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have experience with M16 lowers.
Laser Sights
Paybacks Are Hell
As much as I might be a proponent of transparency in Government, I have no sympathy here:
A coalition of gun violence prevention groups in Virginia (Protest Easy Guns, the Virginia Center for Public Safety, the Virginia Chapters of the Million Mom March, and the Angel Fund) strongly condemns the decision of the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee to hold a surprise subcommittee meeting last night to pass HB 49, a bill that would repeal Virginia’s one-handgun-per-month law.
Late last week, the subcommittee, chaired by Del. Thomas C. Wright, had announced that it would conduct no further meetings, leaving HB 49 unreported.  Yesterday, late in the day, the subcommittee inexplicably reconvened with less than a few hours notice to the public to approve this single piece of legislation.
You did this to us for decades, and now paybacks are hell. They raise the specter of Virginia Tech, but fail to mention that the killer there bought two guns in compliance with the rationing law.
Camp Perry 1935
In this month’s copy of the PRPA Newsletter, the Pennsylvania Civilian Rifle Team from Camp Perry National Matches in 1935:
Click for a closer look. Everyone has what would have been the “assault weapon” of the time, the M1903 Springfield. But man, look at the size of those spotting scopes. Have optics really come that far in 75 years?
Not Much Change for Alaska
The Alaska media reaction to the new National Park rule is predictable:
A new law went into effect on Monday that allows visitors to carry guns in national parks in the United States. But it won’t have much of an impact on Alaska because we’ve been able to pack heat in most of our national parks all along.
Actually, there were a few parks, like Denali, that prohibited firearms. But most allowed them. They humorously note, “If you can’t carry a gun into a national park in Alaska, where the heck can you carry a gun?”
They also note that discharge is still unlawful. No mention of whether a self-defense exception exists, but presumably you’d have that defense as a matter of common law.
“He Pulls a Knife, You Pull a Gun”
Wyatt notes how the Philadelphia Police are responding to knife attacks against officers now. With hot lead. This makes me wonder what the policy was before? It’s extremely difficult to tangle with someone wielding a knife without getting yourself cut or stabbed. Wyatt mentions, “Take this as another example of ‘the militarization of the police’ if you will, but most of us want to go home to our families.”
When I think militarization of police, I think of things like this. Shooting people threatening others with knives should be standard procedure.
Keep Talking Bill
Barack Obama might have done more than any other President to help boost the firearms industry, but it’s hard to argue that he beats Bill Clinton when it comes to boosting gun rights organizations. Every time Bill says something like this …
“They have a lot of advanced notice now. I think the biggest problem that the president’s got is that the lifetime — it’s the — the danger that people who want health care will be disappointed and stay home; that happened to me,” he said.
Clinton added that the National Rifle Association also played a bigger role than it’s credited in turning over Congress during the 1994 Republican revolution.
They were mad about this whole weapons ban and the Brady Bill, and they probably took 15 of our House members out. That was their number, they said between 15 and 20, and I’d say, at least on the low side, they were right,” he said.
… it just adds to our political reputation. Obviously Clinton wasn’t our best buddy. Sometimes I wonder if senior Brady Campaign people don’t have a picture of Bill on their desks, next to the wife and kids, which they stare at wistfully, thinking of better days. No President has ever put more on the line for them than Bill Clinton. But Bill Clinton’s willingness to be honest and forthright on the backlash from gun owners has helped our political reputation immensely, and destroys the credibility of the gun control groups when they try to argue we’re a paper tiger — a ghost story that Democrats like to tell their kids, “Don’t support gun control, or the gun lobby will get ya!” Â All I can say is, “Thanks Bill!”