Looks like hunting sales are holding steady. Actually, I would expect hunting to do fine in a weak economy. It’s meat you don’t have to pay supermarket prices for, and with gas prices dropping, it won’t cost as much to go afield. Plus, with Obama endorsed by the rabidly anti-hunting Humane Society of the US, who knows how much longer it’s going to be a widespread past time.
Category: Guns
How Not to Earn an Endorsement
Of the entire Bucks County delegation of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, I have only two endorsed candidates: Paul Clymer of District 145 and Gene DiGirolamo of District 18. Scott Petri of District 178 is a B+ rated candidate, and we can see what issues he’s weak on:
Petri, who has been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, said he wants a Pennsylvania State Police-maintained database and an enforceable, constitutional provision that requires people to report lost or stolen handguns. He said he will introduce legislation that would make straw purchasing a second-degree felony, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. He also wants any gun dealer who sells a weapon to a straw purchaser to lose his or her license forever.
The third party opponent seems to be pretty good on guns, and Petri does not carry an endorsement. Nonetheless, I would say he’s the lesser of the two evils for people who the gun issue is important to. It’s not a good idea to tell gun voters that your vote against a gun control provision is because it did not go far enough, and you’d be happy to vote for one that did. Also, while I agree with prosecuting straw purchasers, how is the dealer to know that the person he is selling to is a straw purchaser? The whole idea of the strawman is to put someone forward who will appear to not be a criminal, and who will pass the mandated background check. The moral culpability for the crime lies with the straw purchaser, who unlawfully buys the firearm, then unlawfully passes it to someone with a criminal record. Dealers do not have ESP. They can’t read people’s minds. If a dealer knowingly makes an illegal sale, that’s already a crime, both under state and federal law. They don’t just risk losing their license, they risk going to prison.
This is how politicians lose NRA endorsements, and why Scott Petri isn’t getting any of my volunteers this election. I appreciate he’s a B+, and his opponent is likely worse, but he needs to talk to some gun people in the area, and get an idea for how to speak about our issue in a way that gets tough with criminals, but signals to us that you understand our concerns, and will respect our rights. Petri is failing at that this election.
Gun Review: Marlin 917VS-CF
I managed to get the Marlin rifle I won at a Friends of the NRA dinner out to the range. It’s a 917VS-CF in .17HMR. This is the first rifle I have ever shot in .17HMR, and I have to say, I’m impressed with the round. I threw a halfway decent Bushnell rimfire scope on it before I left, and once I got zeroed, I was able to punch out the X ring at 50 yards off the bench. If I had used a sandbag to prop up the rifle instead of a wobbly piece of wood, I think the rifle would have punched a single hole in the A23 target. Report was louder than I would have expected for something that shoots like a pellet gun. Of course, no pellet gun could send a round downrange at 2500fps. I tried shooting a bit offhand, and managed to get everything inside the black on the A23 target at 50 yards. Not too bad. Trigger pull is six pounds, but it’s a nice single stage trigger. Marlin’s T-900 trigger is a lot better out of the box than a Ruger 10/22.
Three drawbacks to the rifle, all of which are my problem, not Marlin’s. One is that I won a gun that’s a different variant of the 917 than I would have bought. It’s meant to be a scoped gun and I shoot iron sights pretty much exclusively. Second drawback is the .17HMR is expensive compared to the .22LR. At about a quarter per trigger pull, it’s still cheaper than most center fire rounds, and it shoots very flat. Third drawback is I can’t shoot it indoors, because our indoor range backstops can’t handle magnum rounds. Not useful for silhouette either, because the .17HMR would destroy the animals. I’ll admit, it’s not a rifle I would have bought if I hadn’t won, because I just don’t have too much use for .17HMR, but if needed something for varminting, or an accurate scoped rimfire rifle for target shooting, it’s a great gun for the price. My main use for this gun will be for new shooters.
Falling Assets
This article by Tyler Cowen talks about how we came to the current financial crisis. This has me wondering something:
It now seems that a wide range of asset prices were artificially inflated. The market for contemporary art, which depends almost exclusively on very wealthy buyers, will probably be the last market to plummet but that development is almost certainly on its way.
Know what other asset market depends on wealthy buyers? Title II firearms, which have also skyrocketed in price in the last 8 years. Could it be that we’ll see lower prices for registered transferrable machine guns? We’ll see.
It’s Really Gun Control!
How do you get political cover for signing what is really a pro-gun bill? Claim it’s actually a gun control bill. Fortunatly the press is willing to go along.
Decline of Hunting
This rather good article explains the decline in huting being the fault of hunters themselves. I’ll be honest, I question whether shooters have been any better in trying to pass this tradition down to our kids.
Mark Warner and AQ?
Some probably notice that some candidates have an NRA grade “AQ” which basically means that their grade is based on solely on their answers to a questionnaire. This might be really surprising to a lot of you, but politicians have been known to lie to curry favor with voters. I know, hard to believe. More than a few see their grades drop once they get in office and actually start voting on our issues. Bitter thinks Mark Warner’s A grade is undeserved because he’s never really been callenged on the gun issue in Virginia. If Mark Warner really believes that NRA is a threat to America, I think even an AQ is too good for him.
Quote of the Weekend
Breda did some precinct walking this weekend:
…if a one-legged librarian can be on her feet for two hours, walking alone in an unfamiliar neighborhood, hoping to change hearts and minds, you can do it too.
She asks “What have you done to defeat Barack Obama today?” It’s a great question. This show we were doing a harder sell for volunteers, trying to get people lined up for the 72 hour effort right before the election, so we can turn out the sportsman vote. Our pitch was basically if you only volunteered an hour of your time, it would go a long way to helping pro-gun candidates. Most people said they didn’t have the time, despite driving a long way to spend a few hours at a gun show. If everyone that attended that show would have, the following weekend, donated that same amount of time to their local pro-gun candidates, the effect would be amazing. This is why we gain ground so slowly, have to compromise, and often just outright lose. I had several people thank us for what we were doing on behalf of the Second Amendment. I appreciate that, but appreciate more people who sign up themselves. It’s nice to be appreciated, but it’s even nicer to have help, and to win.
It’s a Lot of Cartridge for Bambi
TD is getting his rifle zeroed for deer season. He’s shooting a 9.3x62mm CZ 550. Those big bullets will cook the meat for you! Just ask Patricia Eddington.
Ed Rendell Does Something Right
You won’t often see NRA touting something Ed Rendell does, but he signed HB 1845 into law today. State park carry in Pennsylvania is now law, among other things. Previously in Pennsylvania DCNR regulations prohibited guns in parks, much like they prohibit alcohol. If you were caught with a concealed firearm in a state park, they could write you a citation and eject you from the park. Now the only off limits places in Pennsylvania are court houses, and possibly schools (schools are a legal gray area).