First-time applicants for a handgun license must now prove that they have been members of a shooting club for at least a year. In addition, all applicants must provide a note from a doctor about their mental health.
So you have to spend a year in a club without having access to a firearm? And this is the kind of gun laws people want for this country.
Speakertweaker is a Texan, the land where printing can get you in trouble. He agrees with me that open carry should be legal, but warns “Don’t overdrive your headlights,” using a Drivers’ Ed metaphor. Every time something like this comes up, folks seem to think I’m advocating never pushing beyond people’s comfort level. That’s not what I’m saying. But you do have to be cognizant not to push so far beyond most people’s understanding that they dismiss you, rather than thinking.
Most people don’t feel a need to carry a gun in public. We don’t live in a society that’s so absolutely plagued by violence that most people are thinking about carrying a firearm for self-protection everywhere they go. That’s why people have a difficult time wrapping their heads around carrying openly to a kids’ soccer game. The disconnect for people is that they assume that carrying a firearm is a large burden, when it is not. It’s less burdensome than carrying a cell phone. When people see that it is burdensome, even if it’s only socially burdensome, they aren’t going to conclude that people who carry firearms for self-protection are normal, they are going to conclude they are unusually fearful. That’s not really the image we want people to have of public carry.
I actually won a gun in one of the raffles at the Bucks County Friends of the NRA dinner! I never win anything. From the Friends of the NRA merchandise:
NRA Edition Marlin .17HMR
Imported from Italy by Marlin, each rifle includes a carbon fiber dipped stock, four-shot and seven-shot clip magazines, and stainless steel heavy bull barrel. Perfect for a long day at the range or hunting varmint. With the NRA logo lasered on its stock, this rifle will boost any hunter’s collection.
That’s not all I got either. I bid in the silent auction too, and ended up with one of these, which I figure I can use to store powder and primers:
NRA Tool Chest
Up and coming Friends events are a hidden secret. The NRA limited edition Kimber Custom II 1911 went for 690 dollars. The Smith & Wesson .38 Small Cheif’s special NRA edition revolver went for like 320 bucks. This is a bit cheaper than you’ll get them on the open market, and all the proceeds are going to a good cause. The manufacturers donate these guns to the NRA Foundation to be auctioned.
The City of Philadelphia lost another gun lawsuit in Commonwealth Court yesterday. This was the lawsuit by the city against the Pennsylvania Legislature in Harrisburg for failing to pass sufficiently strict gun laws, and for disallowing the City fo pass its own gun laws:
The state Commonwealth Court struck down a lawsuit filed last year by City Council members Darrell Clarke and Donna Reed Miller against the state General Assembly for not passing enabling legislation to allow a package of gun-control laws to be enforced in the city.
The court rejected Council’s argument that the state’s Uniform Firearms Act does not preempt local control over guns.
“While we understand the terrible problems gun violence poses for the city and sympathize with its efforts to use police powers to create a safe environment for its citizens, these practical considerations do not alter the clear pre-emption imposed by the legislature, nor our Supreme Court’s validation of the legislature’s power to act,” the ruling said.
“People have to make a decision as to what side of this issue they’re going to be on. You’re either going to stand up for the citizens of Philadelphia or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or you’re going to stand up for criminals.”
How about standing up for the Constitution Mr. Mayor? You know, the one that you took an oath to uphold? No one is standing up for the criminals here, least of all me. But Let me tell you, Mayor Nutter has some stones here, to talk about supporting criminals when his City criminal justice system is letting peoplelikethis roam the streets. Until we can have an open honest conversation about how to deal with that problem, the City politicians are continuing to pretend to be addressing the problem.
UPDATE: Looks like Uncle beat me to it. Now he’ll start telling me I don’t read his blog again :)
I’m shooting a Garand match tomorrow, and I don’t have a sling for my Garand. I do have an M1907 sling, but that’s on my AR, and since I’m also shooting the AR in the CMP match after the Garand match, I don’t want to transfer it. A commie sling is just going to have to do. The one that came with my PSL seems to work fine as a hasty sling on a Garand. I took the Garand to the range today to make sure it was zeroed, and to try some strings standing slowfire. Unlike with my AR, my groups are all to the right, and low more often than high. I think need to shift my weight around differently for the Garand. Next months for the CMP match at my club, I think I’ll slap the Ko-tonics (looks like they changed names) 6.8 upper on the AR and shoot that.
URGENT: I got a response back already. Do not use their e-mailers, as they send attachments along that do contain Obama’s legal threat, along with all the material from FactCheck.org and various other sources. They do send your content, but you don’t want the baggage that goes along with it.
Please stop broadcasting the misleading and phony NRA attack ad against Barack Obama on your stations.
Time and again, Barack Obama has defended the right to bear arms created by the Constitution. However, this shameful ad misrepresents Barack’s position on illegal guns and tries to scare voters with incorrect information about his stance on the issue.
This NRA ad is a lie, and is not fit for public broadcast.
The public airwaves are no place for this kind of hateful and misleading trash. I hope you will stop broadcasting this deceptive ad on your station and prevent the level of discourse to be lowered by the lies it presents.
Please take this ad off the air at once.
Will the blue dogs in the party condemn this action? Or will they stand by and take it from Obama? If they want gun owner support, this isn’t how to go about it. I will say that at least the DNC didn’t threaten their broadcast licenses. Since they allow editing, I have taken their form and translated it to this:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please do not give into intimidation and threats from the Democratic Party and the Obama campaign to cease running NRA’s ads. As an independent voter, a gun owner, sport shooter, and an NRA member, I find it offensive that the Democratic Party has chosen to attempt to silence my views. Please keep running the ads by the National Rifle Association. They speak for me, and many other gun owners who will not be voting for Barack Obama this coming November.
Thank You,
Sebastian
Langhorne, PA
That should be a nice middle finger extended to the Democratic National Committee. Unfortunately, they ask for a donation after you submit, and “Piss Off” is not among the options.
