Category: Guns

Disarmed for McCain

David pokes some fun at the McCain event held last Friday in Louisville.  Yeah, I disarmed for McCain.  Several people chose to watch from the NRA press office, where they had a feed, and you could be armed.  Before the McCain event, I was open carrying around the press office and the exhibit hall.  No one seemed to be too bothered, including the Louisville Police, the Secret Service, or the authorized journalists.  David opines in the comments:

Blaming it all on the SS rings hollow. I believe NRA had a choice of saying “No thanks–do it all via TV feed if that’s your position,” and McCain also had the option of telling the SS who the boss is–which I cede is extremely unlikely.

If McCain and NRA wanted to turn some of this around, he would show up for an impromptu photo op at their range next to armed members. Does anyone honestly believe randomly present members would pose a danger? Because if so, the gun controllers argument that none of us can be trusted must be true. And quite the opposite statement would be made about the trustworthiness of peaceable gun owners if he did–a real in-your-face to the gungrabbers who portray NRA members as violent lunatics.

McCain was pretty unlikely to call off the secret service, but David is correct that he could have done so if he really wanted to.  Given the speech he gave, it’s not too surprising he didn’t go out of his way to act like a true friend to gun owners.  NRA then had a choice of telling McCain to bugger off, pissing off a lot of ticket holders, or just dealing with the Secret Service security.  It’s one of those cases you’re not going to make everyone happy.

I also don’t think the security reflects too much on NRA members, because anyone could have gotten into that forum if they had a scalped ticket, or just outright forged credentials, which wouldn’t have been that hard for someone determined to get close enough to McCain to take a shot.  Secret Service security centers around controlling the forum, rather than being concerned about specific individuals, unless they have a reason to be.

Based on what I was told, Secret Service was worried about the blogger creds, since people were being issued press credentials who weren’t actually press, but that problem was ironed out by NRA before we started arriving.  There was definitely a lot of security theater going on, but in general, I thought the Secret Service was pretty accomodating of the fact that McCain was appearing in a location with thousands of armed people.

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The Olofson Thing

In honor of this, I have upgraded to a life membership in the NRA (well, and because they were offering it for half price at the Annual Meeting).  I have blogged little about the Olofson case.  I knew my views on this were going to piss a lot of people off, because while I think it represents the ATF at its worst, it also represents our side at its worst as well.  Everyone needs to read the entire thread on AR-15.com.  Olofson is Bladerunner2347.  Some comments:

  • When served with a federal search warrant, the smart thing to do is shut up and get a good lawyer.  Posting about your case for the world to see is not a wise idea when the federales come knocking down your door.
  • It’s rarely a winning strategy to represent yourself, and using a disbarred lawyer to help you doesn’t sound like one either.  This is probably a big reason why NRA didn’t get involved.  Most competent attorneys who practice gun law are able to get that kind of help, but NRA has to be asked.
  • Ignoring advice of real lawyers who say a legal argument that challenges jurisdiction of the federal argument to charge you won’t do anything except piss off the judge strikes me as a bad idea as well.
  • The kid he lent the AR to made a sworn statement that Olafson had told him not to move the selector into the unmarked burst mode setting because it was missing “some type of thing.”  That type of thing would likely be a drop in auto sear.
  • Why would you lend an AR that has been partially converted to someone, when you can probably bet they are going to actually try pushing the selector past fire?
  • Olofson’s AR contained numerous M16 parts.  As far as I know, some manufacturers in the 70s and 80s used some M16 parts in their AR-15s, like bolt carriers and hammers, until the ATF issued a ruling that the practice be stopped.  Olofson’s AR had an M16 trigger, disconnector, selector, and hammer.  As far as I know, there weren’t any manufacturers that used this many M16 parts in their ARs.  The agent who examined the parts, correctly in my view, stated that this did not constitute a machine gun, but ATF has long held M16 parts in an AR to be a no no.
  • Implying that the ATF broke into your house and planted evidence is not going to work with a jury unless you have other evidence to back this up.  Admitting you disposed of evidence doesn’t seem like a good idea either, especially when the evidence in question was the one part in question that would make the AR a fully working machine gun.

This isn’t to say the ATF have been angels in this case.  Most of the criticisms I’ve seen leveled at ATF have been on the money.  ATF pretty clearly deserves to be raked over the coals for:

  • Not having any standardized testing procedures for determining if a firearm is a machine gun.
  • Not having any standard for determining if the requesite parts in possession constitute “readily convertible”
  • Not allowing the defense access to evidence against them so that it may be examined by their own experts.
  • The ruling that any M16 parts constitute a machine gun is bogus, and deserves to be rebuked in court.  ATF should have the burden to prove that the arm, or combination of parts in question, is a functioning machine gun, or can be readily made into a functioning machine gun.  Basically, if they didn’t find the auto-sear, they shouldn’t have a case.

If you’re going to challenge the ATF on these matters, you need to have competent legal counsel that’s experienced in firearms laws.  It is not the time to play legal expert.  If you lose your case, you’re not just hurting yourself, you’re hurting every gun owner out there, because now ATF has winning precedent they can use to screw everybody else.

I don’t blame NRA for not getting involved in this case, because a) they were never asked, and b) the case is a bloody mess, with a poor defendant and a poor circumstances.  The case was very likely from the get go to result in a loss that would actually harm gun owners, rather than help them.  That’s why I get pissy when guys like this do stupid shit that gets them in trouble and then pile more stupid shit on top of that when they get caught and go to trial.  If we’re going to challenge them in court, we have to have our A game on, and I don’t see any evidence that this was the case here.

That said, I believe Americans have a right to own an M16, and I don’t think the public safety is enhanced one iota by putting Mr. Olofson in prison.  But ATF went ahead with this, and it won.  Now some are turning it into one more reason to bash the NRA.  Sorry, but you don’t get to douse yourself with gasoline, light yourself on fire, and then run around bitching that no one is helping you put out the fire.  I call bullshit on that one.  We have to choose our battles carefully, and this isn’t a case I’d want to use to challenge ATF.

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Firearms Rights For Adults

Well, they are old enough to tote fully automatic M4s around Iraq and Afghanistan, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be able to buy a pistol when they come home.  Thank you South Carolina Supreme Court for correctly ruling that 18 year olds are adults.

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Looking Good for NRA Lawsuit Against Philadelphia

Things are looking good to get a permanent injunction against the city’s five illegal gun control laws:

Greenspan ordered the city and the NRA to condense their positions into writing by this morning, in advance of an afternoon hearing.

The city wanted to offer testimony from 10 witnesses, including Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and a retired ATF agent, along with 75 exhibits that included two semiautomatic assault rifles. The city planned to use that testimony to argue that there is “no common lawful purpose” for assault weapons.

But NRA attorney C. Scott Shields objected to such a lengthy proceeding.

“What we’re trying to circumvent now is putting on a dog and pony show of having to listen to all the different reasons why the city needs gun control,” Shields said. “They should really be concerned about criminal control.”

The judge seems to have rebuked the city’s request for a dog and pony show of witnesses.  I’m guessing the judge didn’t take too kindly to having her courtroom used as a three ring circus for the city politicians.  This is really a matter of law, and the City of Philadelphia is on the wrong side of it.  I do hope that Judge Greenspan rules the right way on this one.

UPDATE: Just noticed this one, “The hearing drew a small crowd of demonstrators from X-Offenders for Community Empowerment, a group of men who previously served prison terms, some for crimes with guns.”

Felons for gun control!  Are you kidding me?

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McCain Dissapointment

Sorry for the light posting, but the Annual Meeting has been so busy, I haven’t had time.  I wasn’t really all that happy with the McCain speech.  I think he could have, well, really should have, hit this one out of the park.  McCain has a real problem with the base, and coming to speak to the NRA regulars, the die-hards, and saying you want to shut down private sales, is not a great way to endear yourself to them.  That’s not to say I’m not voting for him, because let’s face it, the choice is between getting hit by a bike, or getting hit by a dump truck.  I’ll join Kevin Baker’s McCain ’08 Campaign.

We heard Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, speak at the NRA Banquet last night, and let me tell you, that guy is impressive.  Frank talk about what happened in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, and the efforts he took in Congress to make sure it never happened again.  Why couldn’t we have him instead of McCain?  Either way, Jindal probably needs to get an already impressive record in Louisiana further cemented, but if your political reputation can be that you cleaned up Louisiana, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish, including, probably, running for President.  If Jindall is what we have to look forward to in the Republican Party, I feel pretty good about the future.  Election ’08 is going to be rough, but there is hope for the future.

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Live Blogging the McCain Speech

I will be liveblogging the John McCain speech at the Celebration of American Values event at the NRA Annual Meeting.  Keep checking back.  This presumes that wireless holds up, and it’s been flakey.

3:00: Mitt Romney is speaking now.  Still waiting for McCain.

3:15: Now it’s Congressman Dan Boren, D-OK

4:15: Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY

4:20: McCain comes in and starts his speech.  But we’re lined up for a photo op, up close.

4:30: McCain says he won’t support an assault weapons ban.  Says banning guns based on cosmetic features makes no sense.

4:35: McCain says he supports the banning private sales, and campaign finance reform

4:37: McCain says he doesn’t support regulating sales between people within the same family.

4:40: McCain says his support of regulating private sales doesn’t detract from his support of the second amendment.  Can’t say I agree with that one.

4:42: McCain reminds everyone that Obama wouldn’t sign onto the brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn the DC gun ban in Heller.

4:42: The theme seems to be “I suck a little, but my opponents suck more.”

4:43: McCain says that the framers knew exactly what they were doing when they drafted the constitution.

4:43: McCain stresses the importance of judges.  In my view, this is the main reason for voting for him.  He promises to nominate judges who will uphold the constitution, and not activist judges.

4:45: McCain is talking about differences between himself and Obama.  Interesting that he’s pretty much running against Obama.  At this point I think we just have to admit he’s the nominee.

4:46: McCain takes Obama to task for wanting to talk to our enemies instead of just kicking their asses.

4:48: McCain is going over the consequences of pulling out of Iraq.  Says “It would be a terrible defeat for our security interests and our values.”

4:49: McCain says Petraeus has a plan, and it’s working, and things in Iraq are getting better.

4:51: McCain says he wants to bring our soldiers home too, but that he won’t ruin the sacrifice they have already made for this cause.

4:52: “I will defend her, and all her freedoms, so help me God”

That’s all folks.  I suck at liveblogging.  Off to drink like a fish with Michael Bane.

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