Category: Guns

CeaseFire Pennsylvania Issues Endorsements

CeaseFire PA has their list of endorsements out for this year.  The full list is here.  I notice that my State Representative carries a CeaseFire PA endorsement.  I will be voting for Frank Farry this election (even though he didn’t get his NRA questionnaire filled out!) due to this development.

If your state representative is on this list, be sure send him or her a message letting them know how unhappy you are with their endorsement by CeaseFire, and that you will be voting for their opponent in this upcoming election (if their opponent is pro-gun.  If not, just make sure they know how unhappy you are about this.)  We’re going to want these endorsements to cause headaches for the folks endorsed, and our numbers are lot higher than theirs.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. More on CeaseFire NJ
  2. Congressmen Signing onto DC Case
  3. CeaseFire Caught Lying

Rifle League Update

I have not forgotten about the Gun Blog Rifle League.  I am compiling the results now, and hope to have those, in addition to the fall match, up by the end of the weekend.  I have been very busy with election stuff in the evenings, so I just haven’t gotten around to it.  Since I’m late getting this stuff out, I will extend the fall match until the New Year.

Thanks for everyone who participated.  The Fall match will be a Kalashnikov/SKS match, in addition to a small bore match most people will be able to shoot inside.  I will be more timely with the fall and winter matches, once the election is over, and my free time returns.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Last Weekend for Rifle Match
  2. Gun Blog Rifle League Summer Match Results
  3. A Match for Cold Occasions (Winter Gun Blog Rifle Match)

Philadelphia Tries Again

They introduce two new gun bills to City Council.  One that closes a non-existent loophole in Pennsylvania Law:

Under legislation proposed by Council members Donna Reed Miller and Darrell L. Clarke, anyone reselling a gun would have have to run the sale through a licensed dealer, who would run a background check on the buyer.

A similar state law already exists, but critics say it is too narrow and has no effect on individuals selling guns to other individuals.

“We’re looking at all the avenues and cracks in the system,” Miller said.

There are no private sales of handguns in Pennsylvania.  That is apparently a fact lost on City Council. I don’t know what loophole they think exists, but this is a non-starter and pretty clearly a violation of state preemption.

The other bill introduced yesterday would raise the city penalty for carrying a gun illegally from $300 to $1,900 and would allow police to confiscate a car driven by someone illegally carrying a gun – regardless of ownership of the car.

Careful you don’t leave a pistol in the glove box of your car if you lend it to someone.  I oppose this law, because I think Civil Asset Forfeiture is wrong on principle.  Doesn’t matter if a gun is involved or not.  This is also a violation of state preemption.

Does the rule of law mean nothing to Philadelphia City Council?  Sadly I think I know the answer already.  How can they expect their residents to respect the law when they themselves refuse to?

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. You Don’t Say?
  2. They Did It: Philadelphia Passes Gun Bills
  3. Philadelphia Gun Bills

Guess Who Doesn’t Win Brady Endorsement?

Congressman Patrick Murphy is not among the Brady list of endorsed candidates.  Joe Sestak got one.  So did Allyson Schwartz.  Of course, the NRA rated him a D-.  He’ll win no friends on the gun issue this election.  This is what we call a poor political calculation.

There’s a lot to be gained by being pro-gun.  A lot of the Tom Manion signs and bumper stickers around Bucks County were put up by my volunteers, or were given out by my volunteers.  I have people phone banking for NRA endorsed candidates.  We’ve been stuffing envelopes for Tom Manion and John McCain.  This could all be working for you Pat, but now it’s working against you.  Where are your throngs of volunteers, coordinators, and bloggers from CeaseFire PA or the Brady Campaign?  Even if you hadn’t pissed them off too, there’s none to be had, because they aren’t a real grass roots movement.

We don’t ask for much Congressman Murphy, just that you vote consistently with the Second Amendment.  But you don’t, so our support goes to your opponent.  I am an independent, and a single issue activist.  I have no special love for the Republican Party.  But I definitely don’t have any love for you when you sign on to ban the guns I shoot with competitively.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Patrick Murphy’s Campaign Pays a Visit
  2. Patrick Murphy Signs on to National Concealed Carry
  3. Why Pat Murphy Rocks

“We’re a Gun Rights Organization”

That’s what Ray Schoenke is telling people in Minnesota:

“We’re a gun rights organization and we are stating Obama’s not going to take away your guns,” Ray Schoenke, who is founder and president of the AHSA, said in an interview Thursday night.

It’s a growing phenomena.  Just look at the crowds this guy draws. Let me tell you, the Second Amendment is in trouble if we don’t counter the AHSA hordes!  I wonder if he told them about Barack’s endorsement by the Brady Campaign.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Where’s Ray?
  2. A Lesson in Public Relations
  3. AHSA On Obama

Forks of the Delaware

We’ll be working one last gun show this weekend up in Allentown.  I had thought that the show two weeks ago would be our last before the election, but this looked like a big show, and our NRA endorsed candidates need the most help in the Northeastern part of Pennsylvania, which this show should draw from.  We have a whopping 500 McCain/Palin signs to distribute.  That’s a lot of lawns that will be helping drive the perception that McCain support is growing in Pennsylvania.

The show is run by the Forks of the Delaware Historical Arms Society.  If anyone wants to come out to this one, it’ll be at the Allentown Fairgrounds.  Directions are here.  Our table should be right at the entrance.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Valley Forge Gun Show
  2. The Great Difficulty With Working Gun Shows
  3. Sportsmen for McCain Rally Footage

Open Carry Advice

Tam says you need to get a better holster.  I particularly love this part:

Nothin’ but Fobus and those godawful clip-on nylon sausage sacks with the spare magazine pouch sewn on the front of the holster.

The reason I think that’s funny is because Bitter has one of those.  When I first saw it, I cringed.  I’ve offered to buy her a better one, but holster carry doesn’t really work too well for her.  At some point I need to get her a new carry purse.  The one she has now works, but the draw from it is a bit awkward.  If you can’t draw the gun smoothly and quickly, I’m not sure there’s too much advantage to carrying.

I’m normally the designated shooter, carrying a Glock 19 at 4:00 in a Com-Tac Infidel holster.  Of course, I know Tam isn’t too much of a fan of plastic guns, the europellet, or plastic holsters, so I doubt I’m ranking much higher than the open carry heretics on the Tam Approval Meter with that one :)

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Kydex
  2. Pocket Carry
  3. Small of Back Carry

More Preemption Challenges

Both the Pittsburgh papers and the Lancaster papers are running editorials on the “Lost and Stolen” provisions that are being passed around the state:

With every right comes a responsibility. You would think that every law-abiding gun owner would want to report a missing firearm as soon as the theft was discovered and would not object to a law on it for a sound public-safety reason — deterrence of so-called “straw purchases” that criminals use to obtain guns.

Yes, people should report lost or stolen firearms.  I believe that.  But failure to do so shouldn’t result in a huge fine and prison time.  You do not victimize people who are themselves victims.  There’s absolutely no evidence whatsoever that these regulations discourage straw purchasing, which is already a felony.  None.  Nada.  The burden should be on those proposing the regulation that it actually works, and doesn’t risk entraping people who are not involved in the illegal arms trade, which these regulations very much do.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Straw Purchases
  2. More on the “Study”
  3. Quotes from the Governor

National Park Carry

Some of you remember I mentioned the date to look for on this issue was October the 10th, which has come and gone.  The problem, I’m told, is that there’s no rule about when rule changes have to go into effect once they are finalized.  Apparently ATF has had final rules pending for years.  I’m not sure how much leverage NRA is going to have with a lame duck administration, and it’s important to keep in mind that the NPS bureaucracy is very much against this rule change.  There’s a possibility there’s feet being dragged in the hopes that the next administration will be happy to kill the rule.  I sincerely hope we can get a new rule in there before the next administration.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. More Lawsuits Against National Park Rule
  2. National Park Carry Update
  3. No National Park Carry for You!