Guns – Page 725 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Don’t Let MAIG Get Away With This Snow Job

It’s been in media reports from around the country. Â MAIG isn’t a gun control group. Â They are only opposed to illegal guns. See the comments by Lancaster Mayor Rick Grey:

Gray, a Democrat running for a second term, spoke of a push by the National Rifle Association to pressure mayors to quit the Mayors Against Illegal Guns group. He said he would not be bowed by the NRA, and he affirmed the group’s efforts to curb illegal guns, while calling on his election opponent, former mayor Charlie Smithgall, to do the same.

Or Boyertown Mayor Marianne Deery:

Deery said the National Rifle Association has distributed postcards that read, â€œYour mayor, Marianne Deery, joined a national anti-gun group.â€

â€œThat can be no further from the truth,â€ the mayor said. â€œI am against illegal guns.â€

â€œI will always stand up to fight for the second amendment of our Constitution,â€ Deery said. â€œI do believe that we have the right to own and bear arms.â€

She said MAIG also supports the second amendment.

Let me show for you a graphic originally presented to me by our friend Carl in Chicago. It’s undisputed that the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violent is a group that advocates for more gun control and advocates for gun bans. Â Let us take a look at MAIG’s positions versus the Brady Campaign positions:

Position on Federal Legislation	MAIG	Brady
Prohibit National Carry Reciprocity	x	x
Repeal Tiahrt Amendment	x	x
Criminalize private gun transfers	x	x
Prohibit gun sales to those on terrorist watch list	x	x
Prohibit gun dealers to liquidate inventory	x	x
Oppose BATFE modernization	x	x

Position on State Legislation
Require lost or stolen reporting	x	x
Support regional data-sharing on gun owners	x	x
Support microstamping requirements	x	x
Prohibit carry on city-owned public property	x	x

Click on the links on the “x” for attribution of the organizations respective positions. There is no doubt folks, MAIG is a gun control group trying to hide behind the shield of only advocating getting rid of illegal guns. They just fail to mention to their prospective mayors that they favor making a lot more things illegal when it comes to guns. If you have a MAIG Mayor in your town, don’t let them get away with parroting this nonsense of only being against illegal guns. Make them own up for the gun control group they are a member of.

Why We Don’t Negotiate With Anti-Gunners

And also, really, why we call them anti-gunners. Â What’s being proposed in Massachusetts is an outrage:

If adopted, the regulations would prohibit machine guns at all public sporting club events, and require clubs to obtain special licenses, hire a police detail, and have one certified firearms safety instructor for every 20 people in attendance (or one for every five attendees if children are present) at all public events. The regulations would also require clubs to submit a safety plan to their local police department 30 days before each event.

I’m an officer at our local club, and I can tell you that if we had to do this every time we had a match open to the public, we wouldn’t open our matches up to the public. Public events and matches are a big part of what shooting clubs do, and this would effectively make them too costly to conduct. Over time, it would essentially destroy the shooting culture, and make the existence of clubs relatively pointless.

What happened was indeed a tragedy, and the people responsible for it are already being prosecuted under the laws that already exist. But instead of just accepting that, Governor Patrick has chosen to propose regulations that would effectively shut down the shooting club culture in Massachusetts. Why? Because you can’t let any good crisis, or tragedy in this case, go to waste.

You can’t negotiate with someone who’s end goal is to destroy your way of life.

The Globe reports that the Ayer Gun and Sportsmenâ€™s Club hosts an annual Military Demonstration Day featuring World War II machine guns. It may cease to exist, according to the clubâ€™s assistant range officer, Dan Damato. This event is held to honor veterans. Only one person is allowed to shoot the machine gun, while everyone else stands behind, Damato told the Globe. If Patrick’s machine gun ban takes effect the tradition will end.

Yes, the tradition will end, which is exactly the point.

I’ll give you two guesses …

… who’s behind this, despite what they say.

Out of the Closet

GruntDoc is a blog by an emergency room physician in Texas. He e-mailed me a few days ago, indicating apprehension that his regular audience might not enjoy his blogging about his hobby. Â Judging from the comments, I would say he’s got not much to worry about. Look at this comment:

Outstanding. Iâ€™m a .308 guy myself, but thereâ€™s nothing wrong with the 300 mag. Â Shooting as a sport is as American as mom and apple pie. Anybody whoâ€™s going to be sickened and horrified that you own a bullet-launching device needs their head examined.[…]

Shooters are everywhere, and in places you’d never expect. It’s one of the few sports where you can be on the line with a carpenter on one side of you, and a college professor on the other side. In fact, you can find that at my club any given Thursday. Â I decided 7 years ago not to keep my hobby a secret, and I’ve never found anyone particularly offended by the idea.

I think it’s important for shooters to be open with people about their hobby, because knowing someone who shoots is going to be a big factor in putting things into perspective for the non-gun owning public, and you’ll probably be surprised just how many people actually share your hobby.

Interesting Twist in Air Gun Laws

Dave Markowitz pointed out this section of the United States Code I had never seen before. It deals with federal regulations concerning toy, look alike, or imitation firearms, and requires the orange barrel that anyone who has ever bought an Airsoft gun in this country is familiar with. But it contains this provision at the very end:

(g) The provisions of this section shall supersede any provision of State or local laws or ordinances which provide for markings or identification inconsistent with provisions of this section provided that no State shallâ€”

(i) prohibit the sale or manufacture of any look-alike, nonfiring, collector replica of an antique firearm developed prior to 1898, or

(ii) prohibit the sale (other than prohibiting the sale to minors) of traditional Bâ€“B, paint ball, or pellet-firing air guns that expel a projectile through the force of air pressure.

This is worded in a confusing manner, but my read of it is that the preemption is limited to marking requirements, meaning if New York City were to require that all imitation guns be painted bright pink, federal law would preempt that, provided that New York State does not outright prohibit the sale of look-alike arms. By the same token, Philadelphia would be unable to stipulate markings for an imitation firearm because Pennsylvania does not fall under the exception.

I could be reading this wrong though. Because the way it’s worded, it seems to be that you could read it that if any state passes a law along the lines of (i) or (ii) the entire preemption would be nullified.

Izhmash Facing Bankruptcy?

Looks like the Great Obama Gun Rush isn’t enough to help Izhmash. Makes sense, really. Izhmash doesn’t sell much to the civilian market in the US. Most foreign manufacturers set up local shop in the US, or sell to a domestic partner like Century, to sell to the US market to get around our ridiculous importation laws. Remember kids, a domestic made AK-47 clone is just peachy, but you’ll use it to mow down a school if you import one.

Gunation

New polls results are out, and they don’t look good for the gun control groups. Â 75% believe the constitution guarantees a right to own a gun. Â Even on gun control, we’re roughly split:

What Outdoor Life left out was that Americans appear to be evenly divided regarding the much hotter issue of gun control:Â 44% of respondents said stricter laws are needed, while 44% said they’re not. The other 12% were unsure.

It’s the 12% of unsure people we need to reach. Â Also, much of that 44% have no idea what the current gun laws are. Â In my experience, people are more accepting of the status quo if they understand it. A lot of people honestly think machine guns are completely legal, and think those ought to be restricted. That’s more of the 44% than you might imagine.

Fun With Dead Batteries

Had to call Bitter tonight to come jump my car at work. Â Our parking lot is at a slight incline, so I tried to get the car moving and pop the clutch, but it didn’t work. Â Pushed the car back up, and tried a stronger running start this time, and I couldn’t quite get the clutch back out fast enough to let the engine turn. Â No good. Â Got the car jumped and driven home, turned the car off, tried to start it, and it was still dead. Took the battery out, then went to Wal-Mart to buy a new battery and turn in the old one. The process of having to turn in the old battery in order to buy a new one was confusing to the Wal-Martians, who first thought I meant to return a battery I had bought. It was too late for the automotive department to handle it. Installed it, and everything is fine after I tracked down the code for my car radio. The battery has been on its last leg for a while, and I knew it, so I can’t complain. It’s the original battery, and I’m at 105,000 miles on my ’04 Honda Element. It’s more than served its purpose.

There will eventually be a day …

… when materials science renders conventional small arms largely obsolete, or at least makes it so you have to aim better. Â That’s almost the case now, except that body armor capable of stopping a rifle bullet, and even some more energetic pistol bullets, is heavy and expensive. Â Not something your average cop, criminal or citizen is going to wear around casually. Â But what if you could make conventional soft body armor stop a rifle bullet? Â That would have serious military implications. Â I suppose that’s when we move to particle beam weapons. Â But remember, particle beam weapons don’t kill people, high energy neutrons do!

Bloomberg the Political Radical

Mike Bloomberg is coming out swinging against the checked firearms rule on Amtrak, a rule that not even the Brady Campaign opposes. It would appear that Mayor Bloomberg is setting himself up to be the most extreme anti-gun leader in the gun control movement.

For those who live in cities represented by a Mayor Against Guns, this is a great argument to use in order to convince them to leave Bloomberg’s group. Even if the mayor does support some gun control, there’s a very good chance that they would not want to run to the left of the major gun control advocacy group. Between Bloomberg’s radical positions and his refusal to seek permission before signing mayors up for MAIG or putting their names on letters to Congress and in advertisements, there exists a huge political liability.