Looks like Pittsburgh is the latest city to jump on the “Lost and Stolen” bandwagon. And all this with zero proof it does anything to limit the supply of guns to the black market.
Category: Guns
It’s Just A “Petty Offense”
Newsweek apparently thinks that when we say “Obama voted to criminalize self-defense with a gun in the home.” that it’s not true because what Obama voted for was merely a “Petty Offense” with a small $750 dollar fine:
The ad fails to mention that the issue was a local handgun ban that made the homeowner’s gun illegal to keep in the house.
What Obama voted for was not any general repeal of the right of self-defense, but to uphold enforcement of the local gun ban, a “petty offense” that carried a maximum penalty of a $750 fine.
Oh yeah, that makes it better. Thanks Newsweek, for making our jobs easier! They go on to detail that the commercial NRA is running as being false, and then talk about the real Hale DeMar story. Perfect!
Seriously, the media is so out of touch they don’t realize just how offensive the true “true story” of what Obama really voted for is to a very large number of Americans. If you can’t use a firearm to defend yourself in your home, without risking a government fine, then self-defense with a gun in the home is a crime. Period. That’s what Obama voted for.
The Scarlet Letter
Apparently armed robbers are in the tank for Obama too:
Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard tells Channel 4 Action News that the victim was robbed at knifepoint on Wednesday night outside of a Citizens Bank near Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m.
Richard said the robber took $60 from the woman, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim’s car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter “B” into her face, Richard said.
I guess this guy misheard the campaign’s slogan as “Gimma all the change you’ve got so I can believe in it!” My car sticker says “Sportsmen for McCain” on it, which hopefully would be enough to allow Mr. Scarlet Letter give to realize that his intended victim will respond with 9mm “O”s to any attempt to carve a “B”.
UPDATE: Upon further questioning, it appears there’s a lot to be skeptical of here.
UPDATE: Yep, it’s a hoax. Man, what an attention whoring tool this chick is. She’s facing charges. Good.
Why Some Candidates Don’t Get Endorsements
I was talking to a friend who was lamenting the Senate race in Massachusetts, where the guy running against Kerry just didn’t seem all that impressive. It’s a real problem in states that have one party rule, since that tends to destroy both parties. It destroys the party in power, because they no longer feel the need to please their constituents. It destroys the opposition party, because no one worth their salt wants to run a campaign that’s guaranteed to lose.
Looking at the Massachusetts race from a gun point of view, John Kerry retains his F rating and Jeff Beatty carries an A grade, but no endorsement. At the ANJRPC annual meeting a few weekends ago, we were addressed by a Republican candidate for Congress in New Jersey, Roland Straten. When I say addressed, I actually mean yelled at. This guy got up, and told us how mad he was at NRA and ANJRPC for not grading or endorsing him. I don’t mean calmly and rationally either, you could actually tell he was visibly angry. Well, it turns out that he has a grade from NRA. I would suggest that if the best the New Jersey GOP can offer is someone who tries to get your support by yelling at you, that probably says a lot about why he’s not endorsed.
But NRA typically will not endorse a candidate unless their endorsement will actually help the candidate win. There’s no way Massachusetts is electing a Republican to the Senate this year. It’s just not going to happen, no matter who endorses him. Roland Straten is also a sacrificial lamb. Looking at his district, it’s most decidedly an uphill battle for any Republican, even ones who don’t have anger management issues. But NRA doesn’t endorse in these races because the endorsement won’t help, and because it would reduce their endorsement win percentage.
All political organizations that issue endorsements are concerned about keeping the value of their endorsements high. If you consistently endorse candidates who are lost causes, the number of elections you successfully swings drops, and along with that so does the value of your endorsement. NRA’s endorsement win percentage is high for an issue organization. In the 2004 election, it was 96%. The 2006 election was rough, which dropped it to 86%. Studies have shown that NRA’s endorsement is worth anywhere from 3 to 6 percentage points in an election, depending on the number of NRA members residing in the district. There’s not much to be gained, either by the candidate, or by NRA, in endorsing a challenger who’s not even close.
I Need One
An alarm clock you have to shoot with a laser gun in order to deactivate. Seems like it would be good for making sure you’re awake, and also learning to get your sight picture and aim after being suddenly woken up.
Of course, you’re going to want to make sure you’re picking up the laser gun to turn off the Gun O’Clock alarm clock. Rumor has it other guns will silence the alarm too, but run the risk of substantial collateral damage.
More Clubs Need To Do This
The Citizens’ Rifle & Revolver Club has managed to get a piece in the Trenton Times highlighting, in a positive way, their shooting sports program:
If you have been thinking of looking into the shooting sports, there is no better time to do it than on Sundays Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 when Citizens’ Rifle & Revolver Club will be holding its annual open house/fun shoot. Citizens’ has been a fixture at Route 571 in Plainsboro for close to 80 years. Carol Katona, who has been president of the club for 15 years and just won another term as president in the club’s recent elections, told me the basic premise of the club is and has always been to promote safety and enjoyment of the shooting sports.
This is probably the best public relations type program shooting clubs can do. Even if you don’t make a new shooter out of someone, people at least can come in, and see people enjoying the shooting sports safely, and be relieved of some of their ignorance about firearms, and the people who use them. If clubs are pulling off successful programs in New Jersey, and getting the media to help promote it, it can be successful anywhere.
NRA Endorsements for Libertarians
This Libertarian candidate is upset that NRA doesn’t endorse Libertarians:
Throughout this campaign I have let my constituents know that I was a NRA member and supporter and have expressed this on my Web site and my campaign material. This only shows that the NRA is either run by or scared of the Republican Party.I spent 27 years as a Republican only to find out that they had abandoned me. Now it is the National Rifle Association that has also done the same. Who is it today that will represent America?
Well, I wouldn’t say the NRA is too scared of the Republican Party, considering this year they have endorsed quite a number of Democrats, including this latest one in Texas. But Libertarian Candidate Teddy Fleck needs to grasp some important political realities here.
One, Libertarians don’t win. If every gun voter voted Libertarian, they still wouldn’t win, and both major parties would quickly abandon gun rights because they have nothing to gain by supporting it. Gun owners are one interest among many, and we don’t have political power outside of acting in coalition with other interests. If every gun owner voted as a gun owner, on gun rights alone, we might have something. But that’s not going to happen.
Two, most gun owners are not Libertarian. Many have libertarian leanings, but I can count on my fingers the number of philosophically Libertarian gun owners I’ve run into doing my grassroots work. I’ve run into more liberal Democrats. I’ve run into one person who is voting for Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate, and exactly no one who said they are voting for Bob Barr. Not a scientific study, but if there’s energy and enthusiasm out there for Libertarian and other third party candidates, I’m not seeing it.
Three, most gun owners are not single issue voters, despite my best attempts to make them. I’ve found more Obama supporters than all the third party candidates combined. Many Obama supporters are aware of his record on guns, but are voting other issues this election, like jobs and the economy, union loyalties, or various other issues. Further dividing the gun vote to third party candidates who don’t stand a chance isn’t going to accomplish anything other than weakening our political power.
Did I mention Libertarians don’t win? When you’re an issue organization, maximizing your political influence is the number one goal. Ideological concerns take a back seat to that. You focus on the gun issue, and develop a strategy to maximize your influence, since third parties have little or no influence, there’s nothing to be gained there. That might piss some people off, but that’s reality.
Pixels for Pistols
Toronto officials want people to give up their nasty, brutish habit of marksmanship, if you want to point something at objects and pull a trigger, they have an alternative for you:
The amnesty program, Pixels for Pistols, is a joint endeavour with the 26-store Henry’s camera chain, based on Church St. in Toronto. For four weeks, Toronto residents who hand over a gun, legal or not, will receive a digital camera, either a Nikon Coolpix S52 or a Coolpix P60, listed at $230 and $190 on the Henry’s website. The offer includes photography lessons.
Fortunately, some gun owners in Ontario already know they are sad, evil individuals, and are taking steps at cleansing their souls:
Among the callers was John Hope, who keeps a trigger lock on the 9-mm Beretta stowed in his Bracebridge home. He says he’s eager to give up the gun so it doesn’t land in the wrong hands – a criminal or suicidal teenager, say. Since he can’t trade it for a camera, he now plans to throw it into the middle of a lake.
Argh! Sell that thing to a collector who would value it. Restricted firearms in Canada are tough to come by. It would have been like someone tossing a fine pre-ban AR-15 in a lake during the height of our assault weapons ban.
Weapons Control Japanese Style
They are getting more strict:
The revised firearms and swords possession control law would ban the possession of daggers and other double-edged knives whose blades are 5.5 centimeters or longer, and swords and spears with blades of 15 cm or longer. At present, one is prohibited from owning swords, knives and spears whose blades are 15 cm or longer.
The bill would also expand the scope of a ban on gun ownership to people with such records of such criminal action as stalking and domestic violence as well as bankrupt people and those feared to commit suicide.
American gun owners should note that, despite Japan’s astronomically low crime rate, the government of Japan is not saying “Well, our controls work well — we live in a very safe society.” No, when the weapons control laws fail, as they always will, the answer will be to squeeze tighter and tighter.
Brass Recycling
It’ll save you money, and confuse hippies.