It looks like Alex Tabarrok doesn’t think gun buybacks make a whole lot of sense from an economic point of view. Dave Hardy relates his own story. My story is that once, when Philadelphia used to do these things, I ran into a couple of Pink Pistol guys at the range who had managed to purchase two Kalashnikovs with the money they had made from saving up old junk guns in anticipation of the next gun buyback. The organization that does these in Philly has since wised up, and on longer hands out cash for guns. You can, however, get a gift certificate for sneakers, or other such non-cash items, the value of which depends on the type of gun turned in. No doubt this will keep collectors away, but I would imagine it keeps pretty much everyone else away too. If Philadelphia ever decides to hand out cash again, I have a few worthless pieces of junk I’d be happy to get rid of.
Category: Guns
NRA Annual Meeting Announcement
You can find it here.
On Friday, May 16th NRA will thank not only NRA members, but also the whole Louisville community with a free concert featuring Grammy award-winning artist John Michael Montgomery. This event is sponsored by Gander Mountain and hosted by Louisville’s Fourth Street Live.
With an estimated 60,000 attendees and more than 400 exhibits, this year’s Annual Meetings and Exhibits promises to be among the best in NRA’s 137-year history. Leading firearm manufacturers will display the firearm industry’s latest products. Various hunting and shooting accessories, and an extensive private collection displayed by NRA-affiliated gun collector clubs, will fill acres of convention space.
Aside from having no idea who John Michael Montgomery is, it sounds pretty good to me. I will be attending as part of the Second Amendment Blog Bash, but everyone should consider coming out. You can visit nraam.org for more details.
Great Article on Women Getting LTCs
From the Times Leader:
Many women won’t leave the house without a purse or lip gloss. But for others, like Barb Smith of Sugarloaf, the daily routine includes something more.
A handgun.
Smith carries the gun during her long commutes to a local hospital — for protection, she said. The side roads she takes to shorten her drive don’t give her a good feeling, but knowing she has her handgun makes her feel secure.
There are between 17,000 and 20,000 license-to-carry firearms permits in Luzerne County though Sheriff Michael Savokinas said he does not know how many have been issued to women. The county’s application for a permit to carry a gun asks for the applicant’s gender but Savokinas said there is no way to determine the number of women with permits because of a recent computer problem.
Some area gun shop owners have noticed an upward trend in the number of women who are buying guns and seeking permits to carry the weapons for self-defense.
Read the whole thing. We’re doing pretty good if my only real complaint about the article is that they misspelled Beretta. I’m almost ready to say I think the media is getting better about our issue lately.
Interview with Joe Olsen
More from Dave Kopel, an interview with Joe Olsen of Academics for the Second Amendment. They talk about ASA’s amicus brief filed in the Heller case.
The Obama Exclusion Zone Project
Dave Kopel is asking for some help in figuring out where gun dealers would be excluded from under Obama’s five mile radius plan. Here’s one example using King County Washington.
UPDATE: Bitter did her home town in rural Oklahoma. She had to give up on Northern Virginia, because there’s just too many intersecting circles.  I suspect most places along the east coast are going to be Obama Gun Sales Exclusion Zone.
No Pot That’s Gone Unstirred
Bitter really stirred the pot with some snark about VCDL on the National Park Carry issue. Sailorcurt took very strong exception to what he perceives is an unfair attack on VCDL. Bitter responded on her own blog, and some folks brought the conflagration over here too.
Sailorcurt’s problem with me seems to be that I defended her actions. I might be more willing to suggest her snark is in poor taste if I hadn’t seen her to do it just about every other pro-gun group out there, and had she not ripped NRA for web site crapitude two days before. It’s her blogging style, and I’m certianly not going to tell her “Well hon, you can take snarky cheap shots at every other gun group, but you always have to be nice to VCDL.” Bitter’s blog persona is snarky and bitchy, which you might expect from the title of her blog, and based on her moniker.
Besides, no one is questioning VCDL’s worth as an organization. All three of us have stated that they are a top notch state level grass roots organization. I would argue a standard by which other state level organizations should be measured. I think people are overreacting to this whole thing, to be honest. If Curt wants to think Bitter, Countertop and I are elitist, well, that’s his perogative. I do hope that all this will blow over, and we can all be friends again.
Latest on CeaseFire PA Board Controversey
Looks like they’ve updated their Board of Directors page, and what do you know, the good Professor isn’t on it. One has to wonder whether he was quietly uninvited. Perhaps Alex T. Riley has been abducted by aliens.
Hat tip to Armed and Safe and War on Guns for noticing the update.
The Gun
So here I am on a Saturday night, and Bitter is no where in sight. You all know what this means. It’s time to buy a gun! I have my eye on one. This one is from the Civilian Marksmanship Program.
What do you think? Click on the picture for more detail. I think that would be a great rifle for doing open sight silhouette. What do you all think? If I decide this is the gun, I’ll drop the order form in the mail on Monday.
UPDATE: It’s a Kimber Model 82. You can read about them here.
Uberti 1873 SAA
Mr. Completely refinished his own grips. Looks pretty good!
PSH Alert on National Park Carry
The latest bit of Pants Shitting Hysterics comes to us from The National Parks Conservation Assocation:
Originally written in the 1930s to prevent wildlife poaching, the parks’ firearms regulation was carefully revised during the Reagan Administration to be as narrowly restrictive as possible, while also assisting park personnel to prevent unlawful killing of wildlife. NPCA believes the current regulations strike an appropriate balance between the rights of individuals to possess firearms under state and federal laws and hunt in areas of the National Park System where it is permitted, and the safety of national park visitors and wildlife. NPCA will express its views in the public comment period, but highlighted a few of them today.
Park safety and enjoyment: We believe that enabling individuals to carry loaded guns in national parks will alarm families visiting the parks, and heighten the possibility for deadly visitor conflicts.
It doesn’t seem alarm families anywhere else that have laws allowing licensed individuals to carry firearms. Why are the National Parks any different? Why should they be different?
Hat tip to Of Arms and the Law