Politics – Page 65 – Shall Not Be Questioned

A Day of Meetings

Couldn’t break away to post even a simple news story. Things at work are busy, and will be for several weeks. Once I got home, I had promise to take Bitter to Mike’s York Street Bar and Grill. For those of you who read my Memorial Day post, I’d point you to the bit I quoted about the War of 1812:

The drafted militia assembled at Thomas Beanâ€™s tavern, Warminster, Sunday, the 18th of September [of 1813], to march to Marcus Hook. General Smith and his staff were there. A large concourse of people came toether to see them off. The troops were formed in hollow square, when the Reverend Thomas B. Montanye delivered an appropriate address. They marched to Philadelphia, and thence to their destination in steamboats. The drafted militia were encamped in the court-hosue yard at Doylestown a day or two.

As I mentioned, it’s still a tavern. I’ve been to a few historic taverns which were still being run as taverns, but what I liked about this one is it wasn’t trying to be anything more than an ordinary community tavern, much like it probably has been through it’s entire 200+ year history. We got to eat in the original portion, rather than the modern addition. They’ve had to prop the interior up with a steel frame, to augment the original wood and stone construction. But the food and service were good, and you can’t argue with the history. Though I wonder how many of the regulars even know about it. They don’t advertise it.

More Gun Control Passes in NJ

Unfortunately, this is a bit of a dog bites man story for a state like New Jersey. The bigger question is what Christie does, because if he signs this stuff, he can kiss his presidential ambitions goodbye. From ANJRPC:

Today (May 30), the New Jersey State Senate passed its remaining package of 10 gun bills in a largely partisan vote, following procedural delays and additional committee hearings since the last Senate voting session on May 13. Many of the bills in the entire legislative package passed by the Senate this month will now move back to the Assembly for concurrence with changes made in the Senate, and whatever passes the Assembly will then move to the Governor’s office.

There may be new Assembly committee hearings on some of the bills passed by the Senate before the full Assembly votes on the entire bill package in June. We do not anticipate that the Governor will take action before July on any of the bills that reach his desk.

Absent from today’s Senate agenda were simple, easy fixes to longstanding issues that have plagued law-abiding gun owners, which ANJRPC has been pressing for months. These include an “Aitken’s Lawâ€ concept (to prevent law-abiding gun owners from being turned into criminals for hypertechnical transportation violations); enforcement of the 30-day permit issuance deadline already required by law but ignored by permitting authorities; and extension of handgun permits to one year.Â We will continue to press for these fixes to be added to the legislative package of gun bills.

Here are the bills that passed the Senate today:

S2723Â (Throws out existing FID cards & replaces with driver license endorsement or other form of ID; suspends Second Amendment rights without proof of firearms training, including for all current handgun owners; imposes 7-day waiting period for handgun purchases; ends all private sales; effectively creates a registry of ammunition purchases and long gun sales; additional impacts.)

S2178Â (Bans fifty caliber and similar firearms. The current version was amended to make the bill effective immediately â€“ specifically to prevent law-abiding citizens with pending orders for these firearms from taking possession of them. Grandfathering of those who already own these firearms has been added â€“ but the guns must be registered, and owners could have civil liability if the firearm is used in a crime. This bill impacts firearms with a muzzle energy of 12,000 ft-pounds, even if under .50 caliber, and possibly other firearms. Gun bans like this are based on the false, unsupportable idea that society will be safer if one particular tool is removed, which fails to recognize that someone intent on doing evil wi ll not be stopped or deterred merely because one particular tool is not available.)

S2485Â (Suspends Second Amendment rights of U.S. citizens based on a secret government list â€“ no due process. Ignores the presumption of innocence to which all U.S. citizens are entitled. Can be abused by government officials to ban guns to demonized classes of law abiding citizens, includingÂ military veterans and gun owners.)

A3717Â (Submits mental health records to NICS â€“ no stated requirement of due process, despite repeated requests since February.)

S2467 / S2471Â (Prohibits investment of state pension funds in companies tied to manufacturers, importers, or sellers of so-called “assaultâ€ firearms for civilian use.).

S2804Â (Makes possession of firearms aÂ firstÂ degree crime for those previously convicted of serious crimes or engaged in commission of a serious crime. This bill targets violent criminals in possession of guns. During committee testimony, ANJRPC urged legislators to add a corollary “Aitken’s Lawâ€ provision to protect law-abiding gun owners from severe unintended consequences of NJ gun law generally, but they declined to do so).

S1133Â (Significantly enhances bail requirements for certain gun crimes. As originally written, carried potential for extreme unintended consequences against law-abiding gun owners. Committee amendments were added in response to ANJRPC testimony to preclude this possibility â€“ enhanced bail requirements now only apply to those engaged in, or previously convicted of, serious crimes.)

S1279Â (Increases the penalty for unlawful transfer of a firearm to a minor from third to second degree. As originally written, carried potential for extreme unintended consequences against law-abiding gun owners. Committee amendments were added in response to ANJRPC testimony to ensure that temporary transfers to minors for instruction and training were exempted. Existing law would already exempt temporary transfers for target practice and competition.)

S2801Â (Increases the statute of limitations for prosecution of theft of a firearm from 5 to 10 years).

S2552Â (Would protect private identity information of individual gun owners from public disclosure.)

ANJRPC will be issuing additional alerts as information is available.

Tuesday News Dump

The gun rights news cycle is getting a little dry, so this news dump will have a few off-topic links.

The Reason-Rupe poll: Congress should cut spending and forget gun control.

The people still don’t approve of Obama’s handling of the gun issue. But gun control is a winner!

Anti-gun groups blowing money to praise O’Malley. Yes. Let us make sure everyone knows he’s a gun control supporter. That ought to help destroy any Presidential ambitions he might have. Also, in Illinois, anti-gun groups are running deceptive ads by showing an M4 firing on full-auto.

“But hubris got to them and decided to ignore a basic principle of living and politics in the USA:Â Leave Gun Owners Alone.” That pretty much sums up the first half of 2013.

The gun control crowd is still applying pressure to swing state Senators. Kelly Ayotte is fighting back.

PA lawmaker wants gun database dismantled. This has taken way too long to fix, and I doubt it’ll happen this session, but I’m glad it’s not being completely forgotten about.

Florida Carry is filing some lawsuits.

Mother Jones discovers building your own gun is legal. The horror! Except there’s some question that the bullet button device on the AK wouldn’t comply with California law because it’s placed too far back, which would allow the magazine to still be detached without the use of a tool. I’m not an expert on this, but I wonder if any of the irony strikes him.

Off topic, but interesting:Â an Illinois school teacher is in hot water because he taught students about their right against self-incrimination, protected under the 5th Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Well, when it comes to the War on Drugs, we can’t be having any of these constitutional rights, now can we? We definitely can’t have the little tykes asserting they have rights that trump the authority of school administrators either.

Government v3.0. One of Kevin’s trademarkÂ Ãœberposts.

Instapundit on the proposed media “Shield Law”: “We need protections for journalism, not journalists.“

More on “Two Americas”

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend. I am busy sealing cracks in the concrete floor of my office, in preparation for new carpet. After the sealant cures, I’ll be applying some Drylok to the parts I had to patch with fresh cement.

I noticed today that Chris from Alaska has an excellent post that furthers the “Two Americas” theme we’ve talked about sometimes on here, noting which states are over and underrepresented in the US military, and which states are losing veteran population the quickest. I am not surprised to see Pennsylvania is underrepresented, despite being the 6th most populous state, nor am I surprised we’re one of the heavy losers in terms of veteran population. Our veteran population trends older, and it’s relatively unheard of for young people around here to join the military.

Colorado Gun Vote Related Recall Fails – Sorta

According to this Denver Post article, the first of four attempted recalls targeting Democrats who voted for the gun control bills has failed. However, I would note that it really only failed on paper at the moment because there are some key points that look good for pro-gun advocates if they can get enough people motivated to work their butts off in 2014.

From the article, the requirements are that recall organizers must obtain signatures from enough voters to represent 25 percent of the votes cast for all parties in the last election in that district. The recall organizers who claimed that they had no professional help, no funding, and a completely grassroots local effort did manage to get about 20 percent of voters from the district to sign on and say they are so pissed off at him that they don’t even want the guy to finish his term. That is not a good sign for the incumbent to have that many people that pissed off so early.

There are still three more recall efforts to go in Colorado, so we’ll see how they go.

But this shows that kind of showing in a relatively unorganized recall effort shows that Colorado gun owners can turn this situation around if they get off their butts. There are no excuses for Centennial State gun guys and gals next year.

Things I Don’t Understand About Voting in Philly

I’m baffled by the stories that come out of Philadelphia after every single election. Last November, one polling location staffed by many Democrats thought it was perfectly appropriate to line up the voting machines in a room with a giant mural of a candidate on the ballot. A judge had to step in and let them know to cover it up. I wouldn’t even care if it was my candidate, my first thought would be to send someone out for a tarp, bed sheet, or giant roll of paper to cover it since it could clearly be seen as electioneering. But, no. This is something that Philadelphia poll workers needed a court to order.

After yesterday’s primary, the news was complaining about the lack of “shenanigans” that required court intervention in Philadelphia. I mean, how dare these people think that holding reasonable elections without rampant violations of election laws is acceptable?

That said, the main story this highlight still leaves me baffled. Apparently a candidate on the ballot tried to convince a poll worker running the elections to wear a temporary tattoo that promoted his campaign. The story says that the candidate was joking (but he apparently doesn’t dispute that he made the suggestion), but the opposition still went to court in order to get a judge to make it official that candidates should not be pushing poll workers to campaign illegally inside polling places. I would think this is common sense, but apparently not in Philadelphia.

And for these many reasons, I’ll never understand that city. I’m even more confused by the voters who consider all of this reasonable behavior.

It’s Election Day!

It’s primary day in Pennsylvania for most municipal elections, and it’s a great day to vote. Here is a partial list of MAIG mayors who may be on the ballot this year. It was written before filing deadlines, so a few of those mayors may have decided to retire. However, most have not.

After today, results will be more official, so it’s a great time to contact opposition to those MAIG mayors with serious challengers. There’s no reason to wait until 2014 to send the gun grabbers a message.

**Please excuse the post with relatively little detail about key races. I meant to do a better post on this topic yesterday, but the afternoon was largely spent watching KFOR in Oklahoma City online and helping spread word related to the statewide storms. My hometown was under a tornado warning for hours yesterday with multiple rotation areas detected throughout the day. Yet, through social media, folks were trying to get word out that the tornado sirens weren’t working for some reason.

Watching the live coverage had multiple veteran reporters losing the battle of tears on camera. There aren’t many places in the country where reporters will put down the cameras and join in the urgent searches, and yet that appears to be what happened in several cases when citizens were stepping up in areas where first responders couldn’t get quickly enough.

Reciprocity Agreements Tweaked With Other States

Sorry for not noticing this, but it would seem our anti-gun Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, has revised our reciprocity agreements with Virginia and Arizona. If you hold a non-resident permit from either of these states, you can no longer carry in Pennsylvania. If you’re from out of state, and not a resident of a reciprocal state, ~~or you’re a PA resident in Philly~~ [Looks like Utah requires a license from your home state before they’ll issue], and you can’t get an LTC because you forgot to pay a parking ticket or had a gun stolen once (two real cases), I would suggest looking into the Utah permit. Utah is recognized by Pennsylvania through statute, meaning Kane has no power to dinker with any agreement. You need to find a Utah certified instructor, but the State of Utah provides a convenient list.Â There are a number of instructors in Pennsylvania, and it’s a very widely recognized permit by other states.

Gun Bills Pass in New Jersey

From ANRPC:

This afternoon, the New Jersey Assembly passed 4 gun bills, as follows:

A3797(Requires NJ State Police to disclose confidential ATF trace data in violation of federal law).Â This bill now moves to the Governorâ€™s desk.

A3796(Reopens “assaultâ€ firearms compliance window for only 180 days; fails to allow compliance for prohibited magazines and ammunition).Â Â This bill now moves to the Governorâ€™s desk.

A3583(Creates school security task force).Â This bill now moves to the Governorâ€™s desk.

A3717(Submits mental health records to NICS â€“ no stated requirement of due process).Â Â This bill was amended today and will have to be reconsidered by the full Senate (next scheduled meeting is currently May 30^th).

Major state house activity is not anticipated until the next full Senate floor vote.

Additional updates and action alerts will be forthcoming.

Is that it? If that’s it, you guys got off a lot lighter than I would have figured.

Gun Control in the House of Representatives

We have seen stories in the last few weeks that indicated gun control may be moving in the House.

Yet, VSSA’s Dave Adams shared an update from a pre-party for the Virginia GOP convention:

Just saw @RepGoodlatte in the @MarkObenshain party. Said no #guncontrol will get through his committee.

It really makes me wonder if all of these previous stories are really just an attempt to make gun owners distrustful of the GOP in hopes that they will stay home in 2014.