When a gun lapel pin isn’t enough, there’s always an NRA tie and “self-defense is a human right” button to help constituents figure out which side of the Second Amendment debate you support. According to the reporter uploading the shot, this is the suit of Minnesota Rep. Tony Cornish, a retired police officer who has an A+ rating on our issue.
Category: Politics
Monday Morning News Dump
Took a bit to get moving this morning with sore muscles, mostly my back, from bending over, and my arms and fingers, from spending so much time with a death grip on a utility knife. My drywall cut mostly worked. Unfortunately, because the stairs were not perfectly square, I transmitted error with every measurement up the whole length of the stairs, and the gap between the stairs and drywall kept getting larger going up. Wish I had checked that with a level beforehand. Nothing that can’t be fixed with some hot mud though. So what’s going on in the gun world?
Tam comments on a post over at PDB’s on accessorizing your rifle. I have one AR upper that’s all rail, and to be honest, it’s not comfortable. I prefer the standard A2 hand guards, and I’ve never liked vertical fore grips. One accessory I’ve always wanted is a mount for a flashlight that fits on the bayonet lug, so it could be easily removed when I take it shooting.
Tam on child labor “We never should have let the little savages out of the coal mines in the first place.” We’ll make sure they wear their helmets and kneepads, and sprinkle the bottom of the mines with rubber mulch so if they fall they won’t get boo boos.
Our public schools introduce thought crime. I never used to think too highly of homeschooling. Not that I have any problem with it being legal, or people doing it, but I never thought it’d be for my kids. I can’t imagine sending my kids to the public schools of today. “Home schooling: not just for religious nuts anymore,” I think I saw that on Instapundit a few weeks ago.
The income tax celebrates 100 years, and along with it, some of the most elaborate and entertaining conspiracy theories ever devised by man. Oh fringed flag, long may ye wave.
A veteran stands charged with possession of a 30 round magazine. Instapundit notes that he must not qualify for the David Gregory exemption.
The Democrats in Minnesota are planning themselves some gun control. Standard fare we’ve seen everywhere else. Draconian gun bans, seven round limits.
Everything is an assault rifle. Maybe they read the Journalist Guide to Firearms.
“Guarded optimism,” is the watchword for the suit by NYSRPA/SAF against New York City over excessive gun license fees after oral arguments seemingly went well. I think our victories in Court are partly responsible for the current backlash. We have the wild animal backed into a corner.
Of course rapists want women disarmed. #WarOnWomen
Loaded language poisons the gun debate.
Two posts by Professor Nick Johnson, one on the miseducation of Danny Glover, and one on the President’s gun control proposals.
Miguel notes that lawmakers don’t seem eager to sign on with Feinstein’s gun ban. Don’t get complacent. If they win on any issue, it’s going to make a follow up victory much more likely. Don’t forget after Brady passed, they finally got their “assault weapons” ban. Next time that bridge too far won’t have a self-destruct mechanism built into it. They won’t fall for that again.
I’ve been trying to ignore the prattling fools at CSGV, but every once in a while, the stupid burns. Joe has a quote of the day. CSGV are the kings of erecting straw men to tear them down. Nearly all the features on the AR-15 that are “evil,” (save maybe the bayonet lug, which are no longer evil, apparently) are ergonomic features. We don’t deny they serve an ergonomic purpose. But when we say the ban is cosmetic, that is also accurate, because they are looking for common cosmetic features that apply to all rifles the other side think looks scary. The AR is just damned comfortable to shoot, which is why it’s popular. Because it’s popular is, of course, the reason they want it banned. It’s like if the obesity advocates decided to help people exercise more by mandating that comfortable chairs and sofas be outlawed.
Well, that’s all for this round. One of these days I’m going to do one of these dumps and then not have anything to write about for the rest of the day.
More Hearings on Gun Control
It looks like the anti-gun lawmakers are not through with the dog and pony show of gun control hearings. We already knew that Dianne Feinstein wasn’t happy with pro-gun speakers allowed on the main Judiciary Committee hearing witness list, and she demanded to have her own hearing.
Well, it looks like Dick Durbin is joining that club and having what will be the second of (at least) three hearings on gun control. There isn’t a posted witness list yet, but Ted Cruz is ranking member of the subcommittee, so he has the opportunity to have a little more fun with his large gun pictures and “evil” gun accessories.
Unexpected Responses
My mother recently retired to Tennessee, and her first political activism in her new home state was to write her Congresswoman, her two Senators, her State Representative, her State Senator, and her Governor to oppose gun control. She faxed all of her letters early last month, and today she got her first response.
It was from the Governor who went from being a MAIG mayor to publicly opposing Bloomberg’s views to leaving the organization to indicating he supported constitutional carry. He’s the only one who has been willing to respond after several weeks. I don’t have a copy of the text, but she said it’s a good letter and favorable response.
Targeting the Gun Industry
About 60 mayors are planning to exercise their authority over city spending on gun and ammunition purchases by demanding that any gun makers who want to bid for their contracts start supporting gun control efforts. Their argument is that they control tax dollars, so tax dollars should only go to companies that embrace their political agenda. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said, “We all ought to have a conversation as taxpayers about whether our dollars should be used for people who are not working to reduce gun violence.”
Meanwhile, Smith & Wesson today posted on Facebook to promote their tool to contact lawmakers to stand up for Second Amendment rights.
The Non-Public Public Meetings on Gun Control
Just like Joe Biden did in Virginia, Obama plans to start off next week with a not-really-public meeting with supporters to call for more gun control in Minnesota.
This isn’t about hearing from real voters, but they do know that when the President or Vice President come to town and are “seen” as talking to voters about gun control, then it increases local coverage for their cause. I find it interesting that Obama is currently targeting states he won, but where he doesn’t have consistent support for the gun ban agenda from members of Congress. This is very much about testing out the waters of firing up his personal base to see if they will act on gun control. It’s also timed to coincide with the state push for gun control, so he’ll probably tie at least some of his remarks to drive attention to that. I have no doubt that the White House has seen how visible pro-Second Amendment folks have been in key states that should be able to ram through gun control without a second thought, and they want to attention away from our efforts.
As I said previously on the post about Biden’s visit to Virginia, if there happen to be a handful of dedicated pro-gun activists in the immediate area to Obama’s visit, just having a few people out with signs to protest can be very useful for fighting in the media. It doesn’t have to be a mass, full-scale effort. Just a few people who already live or work in the area and have the flexibility to step away from their jobs for an hour or two and hold up some polite protest signs. Those kinds of small efforts make their way into the media reports, and it shows those local lawmakers that Obama is trying to pressure that we’re not giving up.
Why New York City Must Accept the Second Amendment
So we can save the 4th Amendment. Tactics like this, or stop and frisk, became far less attractive when a lot of ordinary citizens are legally carrying firearms. It overwhelms law enforcement with false-positives. But you can bet even if we force carry on them, they will use this anyway to harass the law-abiding, as long as the courts let them get away with it.
ATF Botches Another Operation
Looks like they botched another one. Dave Hardy notes: “ATF team wins first place in the competition for the most mucked-up sting operation in LE history.” A lot of folks want to get rid of the ATF. Certainly the FBI would likely be more competent at enforcing the laws on criminals, which would be a good thing. The problem is, the FBI will also be more competent at railroading the otherwise law-abiding on gotcha technical violations. They will also be more competent at petitioning Congress for more gun laws, and anti-gun Presidents would have more leeway to nominate anti-gun crusaders as FBI chief. Gun owners often call for the abolition of ATF, which is short sighted. As long as their are federal gun laws, someone is going to enforce them. Pick your poison.
Bill to Defy Federal Gun Control Introduced in Pennsylvania
I’m glad Pennsylvania is joining the list of states poised to defy any new draconian federal gun control. You can see the bill here. I absolutely support this bill moving forward in the event we actually get some horrid law out of Washington, but I would caution until it looks like we’re going to get something out of Washington, it’s probably best if we keep this one on the back burner. The message has been sent, but we need to be prepared to push this to the hilt if something passes in D.C.
What Gun Owners Can Learn from Tea Party Activists
I think one of the most relevant lessons for gun owners from tea party efforts to fight Obamacare is that we need to be everywhere. Lawmakers and their staffers shouldn’t be able to go one single day without hearing from at least a handful of Second Amendment supporters. I realize that Obamacare ultimately passed, but not without considerable political losses. That’s not something the Democrats can afford to take again in 2014, and they know it. Obama might not know it, but the other members of his party know it.
Regardless, it’s heartening to hear stories about lawmakers being swarmed by pro-Second Amendment questions at their town hall meetings.
U.S. Rep. Charles W. Dent got a double-barrelled reception on his first visit to Hamburg, where he was peppered with questions on gun control during a town hall meeting Wednesday.
“How are you going to vote on the gun control bill?” a woman demanded. …
The audience, primarily senior citizens, took aim at President Barack Obama’s call for a ban on assault-style weapons, characterizing the president as a dictator intent upon disarming the American public.
“Are you going along with legislation that violates my God-given right to bear arms?” asked James Bewley of Windsor Township. “I believe the federal government is overstepping its bounds.”
Keep it up.