They call this a rifle, but it’s really a shoulder fired cannon. It takes an NFA stamp to own one. Click on the link to see it in action. It really doesn’t look like it has much recoil.
Category: Guns
When Talking Points Collide
Sometimes talking points collide over at the Brady Campaign. They must appear like the moderate group that’s not actually trying to ban guns anymore while also jumping on board with just about every idea someone can frame as gun control. Every once in a while, those two efforts don’t quite mesh, as Thirdpower has found.
NJ Paper Questions the Efficacy of Buybacks
The Verona-Cedar Grove Times is questioning whether gun buybacks which offer larger sums of money, like $200, might be encouraging thieves to steal more firearms. I think it’s a reasonable supposition, but I’d be surprised if the effect is that great, considering what other things you can steal that are worth more than 200 dollars, and also require breaking into homes. Plus, a gun on the streets is worth more than the buyback amount.
I don’t think the buybacks do much to control crime, since most of the people giving them up are homeowners who just don’t want them anymore. I’d have little problem if the police only destroyed the junk, and sold the guns that were of curios or otherwise valuable to collectors. They might not be effective at stopping crime, but I don’t see them as particularly problematic constitutionally as long as it’s voluntary. Whether it’s a wise use of money and police resources is another story.
Christmas Cheer from the Brady Campaign
The Brady Campaign notes that if you bring a gun on an Amtrak train, clearly you are going to die. And we’re the ones who are paranoid and hysterical? I mean, in a way I have to give them kudos for a sense of humor, and definitely an A for creativity. But come on. Let’s get real.
Fourth Generation Glock Update
The Judge Seems to Be Confused
According to Fox, a Montgomery County judge seems to be taking a stab at creating his own gun registry for reality stars.
A Montgomery County judge issues a court order after Jon Gosselin is seen shooting a loaded gun at his Berks County house.
Judge Arthur Tilson issued the court order Thursday in Norristown, Pa., after Jon Gosselin was photographed on Wednesday in Wernersville, Pa., shooting a .38 pistol on his property.
The judge also ordered Gosselin to register his pistol at a new address in Pennsylvania within 90 days.
Media sites caught Gosselin, 32, carrying the gun and then shooting it on the vast property at the estate owned by Jon and Kate Gosselin.
The problem for Judge Tilson is that registries of gun owners are illegal in Pennsylvania. (Yes, we have the issue with a registry of sales, but that’s not the topic in this case.) One lowly Montgomery County judge cannot singlehandedly create one by court order.
It does not appear that Jon was doing anything illegal or dangerous, as press accounts indicate their property is quite large. And I can attest that the area is quite rural since we drive through Wernersville when visiting Sebastian’s dad. (Fortunately, we have avoided catching sight of Jon, Kate, and all of their 8.)
Unfortunately for Jon, reports indicate that he’s broke and can’t pay an attorney to challenge this judge. However, I can’t really see what force of law the judge would have to enforce an order that’s unconstitutional.
More on “Buy Backs”
In New Jersey, at least one paper is questioning the value of gun “buy backs” and ponders whether the incentives are wrong for criminals.
But are we sending the wrong message to criminals who want to earn a fast buck with the sale of illegal firearms?
In some jurisdictions, people are allowed to turn in up to three handguns for $200 each, according to news reports.
One must ask, are we – as law-abiding citizens who obtain our weaponry through legal means – at risk of having our homes, offices and businesses burglarized by criminals who intend to make a couple of hundred dollars at a gun buyback program?
We’d like to know if there is data showing a rise in gun thefts that correlates to buyback programs, and whether the guns purchased at buyback programs have been stolen from homes and businesses.
Misleading Headline
I read this headline and thought Florida gun owners were being honored with Christmas presents:
Bring a gun to West Park on Saturday and get a gift card
Of course, it’s a “buy back,” so no holiday surprises this year. Damn.
Stephen Halbrook Christmas Special
Thanks to Dave Kopel for pointing this podcast interview out. Have a very merry Second Amendment Christmas. For those of you who are good, maybe you can find a copy of The Founders’ Second Amendment in your Christmas stocking.  For the bad boys and girls, a copy of Saul Cornell’s book, A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America. Ho! Ho! Ho!
Transcription Errors
The big buzz happening now, which SayUncle and Dave Hardy are reporting on, is that the version of the Amendment that forces Amtrak to allow guns to be transported in checked baggage that was actually passed by Congress, and what was sent to President Obama for his signature are different.
As to what happens from here, I seemed to recall in arguments with tax protesters from years ago reading about Supreme Court case that addressed this very topic. The case is Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649 (1892):
The signing by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and by the President of the Senate, in open session, of an enrolled bill is an official attestation by the two Houses of such bill as one that has passed Congress, and when the bill thus attested receives the approval of the President and is deposited in the Department of State according to law, its authentication as a bill that has passed Congress is complete and unimpeachable.
So I’m pretty sure that it’s valid law until Congress fixes the problem.