Guns – Page 827 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Delaware Needs Stronger Gun Laws

The Brady campaign says Delaware needs to do more when it comes to gun laws.

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California scored the highest with 79 points showing, according to the Brady Campaign, the entire nation has a way to go on gun control.

Brady is no doubt hoping to exploit the election of Jack Markell, a staunch gun hating Democrat, to push Delaware into the anti-gun category.Â Ruth Ann Minner, Delaware’s last Governor, was not hostile to gun rights.Â But before Delawareans allow themselves to be shamed into being more like Californians, they should look closely at the numbers the Brady’s wont tell them.

Delaware has a murder rate of 4.2 per 100,000
California has a murder rate of 6.2 per 100,000

Maybe California should think about adopting Delaware’s gun laws.Â Both states have a higher overall violent crime rate than Pennsylvania, which ranks lower on the Brady scale than Delaware or California, because it has the audacity to allow citizens to carry concealed firearms for self-defense pretty much everywhere they go with an easy to obtain license.

UPDATE: Looks like PA is 10 this year, and DE is 11.Â Kind of odd.Â Look at the details for both states.Â Can you tell me which laws Pennsylvania has that drive its points higher than Delaware?Â Do they give that many points for universal regulation of handgun transfers?

Preemption Victory

West Mifflin Township has decided to give up its plans to install metal detectors at the entrance to council chambers.Â I actually don’t think this needs to be a violation of preemption per-se, as long as you wave people past who are carrying firearms legally.Â But presumably that was not the intent here.

AR-15 Accessory Fail

One thing that’s always bugged me (at least since the assault weapons ban expired in 1994) is that the bayonet lug of a 16″ AR-15 carbine is about as useful as tits on a bull.Â Even on a 20″ AR with full length hand guards, civilians never have much reason to fix bayonets short of saying “Well, look at that.Â It fits.”

But on the carbine, since the standard bayonet handle isn’t long enough to make it to the flash hider ring, I decided I would prefer to mount a flashlight on the lug.Â Turns out they do make an accessory that lets you do that, but this particular rail mount isn’t quite what the doctor ordered.Â I looked on the manufacturers web site, and it says it’s made to fit Colt lugs, and apparently not all AR-15 bayonet lugs are created equal.

I tried to fit it on by hand, and it wouldn’t go.Â Some tapping with a rubber mallet got it a little further, but still no good.Â I’m not going to pound the hell out of my AR.Â Drat.Â I guess I’ll have to figure out another way to mount the flashlight.Â I prefer standard A3 handguards, and need to be able to take acessories I keep for home defense off when I shoot matches.Â This would have been a good solution if it worked.

Spending Pittman-Robertson Money Against Us

Some folks seem to think that the excise taxes we pay on guns and ammunition ought to go things other than range development and wildlife conservation.

Gun Show Bill in Virginia is a No Go

Word is that the bill to regulate all sales at gun shows in Virginia has been defeated for a second time in the Virginia Senate.Â This is useful for everyone, because passage of this bill in Virginia might have given legs to a national effort to do the same.

UPDATE: It occurs to me that I should say “further regulate” because it’s not like there’s any such thing as an unregulated gun sale these days.

Smart Gun Help

Eugene Volokh is looking for some input into a law review topic of smart guns and the Second Amendment.Â Some thoughts:

The electromagnetic pulse problem can be solved with shielding.Â You basically just need to build a Faraday cage around the sensitive electronic parts.Â The real problem is such electronics will need to rely on batteries, which either must be replaced or charged.Â The power distribution system is definitely vulnerable to EMP, and would be out in such an attack.Â Batteries might be in short supply.

Personalization requirements on smart guns could interfere with lawful self-defense in the instance where the gun is registered and assigned to a family member, and another family member requires its use for self-defense.Â In New Jersey, for instance, it’s technically unlawful to pass a firearm to your spouse, even in a self-defense situation, if that firearm is lawfully possessed by you.Â Presumably smart technology would be mandated to enforce laws regarding transferring, loaning or selling firearms.

Electrical motors and actuators, which any smart gun would presumably need to function properly, are not nearly as reliable as the mechanical linkages present in ordinary firearms.Â Motors and actuators can be made fairly reliable, but firearms need a very high degree of reliability to be useful.

I’m skeptical that smart gun technology will ever be reliable enough for the purpose of defending life.Â Certainly the problem that smart guns purportedly aim to solve can be more easily and cheaply solved by a quality, quick open handgun safe.Â Given that, smart guns seem like a solution in search of a problem.

Letter to the Editor Opportunities

Every time a story like this appears in the media, calling for a renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban, we should be ready to hit them with Letters to the Editor.Â If we’re going to work to sabotage the Brady Campaign’s efforts to create a positive media environment for renewal, this is what we’re going to have to do.Â Good guidelines are 200 words or less for an LTE.Â You need to get your follow up in quick, while the editorial is still fresh.Â Be clear and concise.Â Pick one line of argument and stick to it, rather than jumping all over the place.

I think every black rifle owner out there should go to at least one NRA high-power, CMP, or practical match this spring, and get yourself classified as a competitive shooter.Â Some letters should focus on the widespread use of AR-15s and various other military patterned rifles in shooting competition.Â Identify yourself a competitive shooter who uses one in matches.Â Talk about the qualities that make them beneficial for sport shooting.Â All letters should stress we’re not speaking of machine guns, which is the most common misconception.Â Other letters should focus on their use in self-defense.Â Talk about the AR/AK benefits for that purpose: their smaller size, the fact that they fire an intermediate powered cartridge, the fact that you can easily mount a flashlight to the rifle.Â The availability of ammunition because of their widespread use in law enforcement.

The only way we’re going to come out of these next four nightmarish years unscathed is if we all pitch in, and help defeat this bill in the realm of public opinion before it even has a chance to go anywhere in Congress.

VHFA Reintoruced in Congress

The Veterans Hertiage Firearms Act, which authorizes a limited amesty for registering NFA items for veterans who served from 1934 to 1968, has been reintroduced by Congressman Rehberg of Montana.Â Â Baby steps.

Jim Crow for Gun Owners

Dave Workman has an interesting take on Congressman Rush’s bill in Illinois, which requires a written test as a precondition of licensing:

From the late 1890s through the mid-1960s, African-American citizens in the Deep South were systematically and egregiously denied their voting rights through the administration of so-called “literacy tests.”

It took an act of Congress and some Supreme Court rulings to abolish this despicable form of bigotry. But apparently history is lost on Congressman Bobby L. Rush, who represents the 1st District of Illinois.

Astonishingly, this black congressman has introduced a gun control measure that would, among other things, require potential gun owners to first apply for a firearm license and before that license would be issued, they would have to present “a certificate attesting to the completion . . . of a written firearms examination.”

If he were proposing this for voting he’d be banished from town.Â I guess in Congressman Rush’s world, some rights are more equal than others.

Tonight on Gun Nuts Radio

Caleb and Breda are hosting John Hutchinson, author of The Great New Orleans Gun Grab, on their show at 9PM tonight.Â I think this should be a very interesting show.Â So tune in to what listeners often call “the fastest hour on the Internet.”