Sensibly Progressive talks about his record on guns.
Category: Guns
Chicago Gun Ban Upheld in District Court
SayUncle has the story. This is not unexpected, since there’s controlling higher court precedent that binds the lower court.
More on CMP and the M-14
A reader yesterday made a pretty good comment that I feel I should share as a post:
History Lesson
1994 – Clinton gets the gun ban through Congress. Issues an executive order directing the Army to cease transfer of surplus-to-needs weapons and ammunition to the Department of Civilian Marksmanship. Also orders the Army to dispose of stored M14’s by foreign sale or destruction, in order to prevent their future sale through DCM.
1995 – Clinton issues executive order shutting down DCM permanently.
1996 – A newly elected Republican controlled Congress (primarliy due to Clintons’ gun ban) gives Clinton “the finger†by resurrecting the DCM as a congressionally chartered private corporation; the CMP. For political reasons the CMP is not chartered to sell the thousands of 1911’s surplussed by the switch to the M9. Doesn’t have much practical impact, though, as the company in Anniston that had been bandsawing Garands and M14s, and crushing 1911’s, had been running 3 shifts for more than a year. There are, for all practical purposes, no 1911’s left. Destruction of Garands and M14’s is halted. Remaining rifles returned to storage.
2004(ish) Army notes desperate need for long range rifle system for designated marksman program. Remaining M14’s, including most of the guns used by the USN for linethrowing and security, are returned to the depot at Crane for overhaul and re-issue to the Army.
Clinton managed to get rid of nearly 750,000 M14’s through foreign sales (at a dollar apiece) or destruction.
The domestic supply of M1 Garands was exhausted about 3 years ago. Rifles sold through CMP since then are lend-lease returns from foreign governments. Once those are gone, or if re-import is halted, thats’ it. Get ‘em while you can!
The Army is still short of DM rifles, and certainly isn’t destroying any serviceable M14’s at this point. Rumor has it that attempts are being made to repurchase some of those that were dumped overseas.
Ohio Carry Permits Saved from Fee Hike
It looks like the cost of a concealed carry permit in Ohio was going to be increased without too much debate until NRA stepped in around 1am this morning.
A fee increase for concealed-carry licenses survived inside House Bill 450 through the entire day Wednesday and even into early Thursday morning. But it’s never too late for the National Rifle Association to make things happen.
The bill, which passed the Senate by an overwhelming margin several hours earlier in the evening, was called up for reconsideration just before 1 a.m. Thursday morning, after the NRA and others contacted Republican lawmakers and expressed concern about an amendment to the bill that would increase fees for concealed-carry permits.
The fee was stripped out because there seems to have been some major miscommunication on it. The hike was requested by the county sheriffs who lose money from their normal operating budgets every time they issue one. Some GOP lawmakers were told the increase was only about $3-5, but apparently it was worded so the fees could be hiked another $25.
Gun Industry Health
SayUncle has a pretty good summation of how the gun industry is doing. In short, hunting continues to decline, while the shooting sports and self-defense markets are running hot. I think the industry’s efforts to attempt to revive hunting are important, but agree with Uncle that they should recognize who’s driving their business right now.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Encourages Law Breaking
They are taking the Mayor of Pittsburgh to task because he won’t sign an illegal law:
For all the mayor’s good words to council, that statement to state lawmakers would have been stronger if the city’s highest elected official had affixed his signature to it. That would have been real leadership.
Is real leadership being demonstrated by Philadelphia? A city that’s running out money to such a degree that they are closing fire stations and cutting back on other essential services, but yet has the money to fight for worthless gun control measures in Pennsylvania’s courts with almost no chance of prevailing? That’s the kind of leadership you want to see out of Pittsburgh? I think Mayor Ravenstahl has demonstrated leadership, which the Post-Gazette wouldn’t apparently recognized if they were slapped in the face with it.
Published in the Federal Register
The National Park Service rule allowing for concealed carry in National Parks has been published in the Federal Register. This starts the clock ticking for it to go into effect on January 9th. Bitter and I will be paying a visit to Valley Forge National Park, shortly thereafter, both armed with a lawfully concealed pistol, the way our founding fathers intended.
Damage Control
Gun Clubs in Massachusetts are talking about how safe they are:
“We look at safety so seriously that any accident, especially a fatal accident like this, is going to rock our members for years,” Wallace said.
“But this is so rare; if you look at other activities kids are involved in, shooting sports at the ranges is probably the safest activity kids can get involved in,” he said.
It’s all true, but most people are smart clubs are smart enough to know you don’t give an eight year old a micro-uzi and let him try to dump a magazine.
Gun Buyback Sponsor Convicted on Gun Charges
Convicted on federal weapons charges for being a felon-in-possession. He had sponsored gun buybacks in the past in cooperation with an organization that promotes giving up guns and violence as a means of solving problems.
NTRFR Testimony
Looks like someone’s beating a conviction for having an unregistered Title II firearm because of ATF mismanaging the registry. That’s not to say they can’t obtain convictions on other evidence, so don’t get any ideas. But it would appear they will have difficulty obtaining them of that is the only evidence of the crime.