Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 106 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

Twilight of a Republic?

Sebastian expressed his amusement over the news that a Clinton staffer was offered an immunity deal as part of the email brouhaha. I can’t say I didn’t feel some schadenfreude when I heard the news, but I’ve had time to think it over since. And now I’m actually a little worried. This upsÂ the ante for Ms. Clinton. SomeoneÂ on her team believes not only that a crime occurred (Pagliano has already invoked his 5th amendment rights in testimony before Congress), but that there is a substantial risk the FBI can prove he himself was involved. The thing is, though, the FBI would only offer immunity if they believed he can tee up someone bigger. There aren’t a whole lot of bigger frogs in the pond, though. Ms. Clinton is very close to a scenario where she either becomes president or suffers a catastrophic disgrace when the whole mishandling of classified information scandal crashes down on her inner circle, and herself.

That worries me, if there is no graceful exit option for her. The underlings now have one – negotiate a deal with the FBI (while they still can, anyway). But that’s not available to the head of the organization. Neither is resigning to avoid prosecution. Accepting a pardon from this or a future non-Clinton administration is barely an option, I suppose, but it still leaves her “brand” badly tarnished. I don’t really want to see what Ms. Clinton might do on deadly ground (to quote Sun Tzu).

Weekly Gun News – Edition 29

Is there enough gun news to fill a news post? Trump Mania is dominating the news cycle right now, so very little is being said on guns out there. But here goes:

Bearing Arms: It’s Cruz or the Second Amendment is dead. Plus part 2. I actually trust that Trump would be pretty good on the gun issue, in large part because his base is the white working class, who would never forgive him if he wasn’t. What I don’t trust him to do is pick the right Supreme Court justices.

The SHARE Act passes the House of Representatives. This deals with a number of hunting issues, and also increases the proportion money from P-R taxes on guns and ammo to go to public ranges.

You don’t say: “Bloomberg’s policy crusades could pose obstacles with voters.” I think he was only prepared to jump in the race if Sanders looked like he’d schlong Hillary. That’s starting to seem unlikely.

Why are anti-gun people so violent, PartÂ MMXLIV

Safe storage laws only serve to punish grieving parents. Responsible people don’t need a law to coax them into being responsible, and irresponsible people aren’t going to be made responsible just because there’s a law. These laws are also unenforceable absent a police state, since they regulate what goes on in the home.

Progress on the right to keep and bear arms as an international human right.

Remember the creed of a number of anti-gunners: If it happens, that means it’s legal!

I didn’t even realize CPAC was going on. I’m out of shits to give for the DC conservative establishment.

Oh, I don’t know — try to pass it in the state’s most liberal city? “How to Pass Gun Control in the Sixth-Most-Gun-Owning State in America.” Missoula is preempted, so even if this passes, it’s likely not going anywhere. This is like getting excited that Austin is anti-gun.

Virginia Democrats, who just got out of having their asses handed to them on guns, decide to go for round two? They claim we’re paranoid for saying they want to take our guns, but they sure don’t want you to be able to buy them anywhere.

I have to agree with Joe Huffman, providing a tax credit to get firearms training is a great idea. It promotes the well-regulation of the militia. It’ll also expose the true motivations of our opponents.

Off topic:

Poll finds Sander and Clinton backers twice as racist as Rubio supporters.

I’ll second that “YEP”.

Well, This is Certainly a Fun Development

I have to give the 2016 cycle one thing, it’s probably nearly as entertaining as it is depressing, and to that end we find out that one of Hillary’s staffers has been offered immunity by the Justice Department, and it’s the guy who set up her infamous e-mail server. Popehat noted on Twitter:

When DoJ gives someone immunity in an investigation involving my client I generally ask for a large increase in the fee deposit.

â€” Popehat (@Popehat) March 3, 2016

Grab the popcorn folks. this show is probably about to get even more riveting. I think Obama was happy to sit back and let Bernie take down Hillary for him, but it would seem after his lackluster Super Tuesday showing, the Administration has decided Bernie might need a little assistance.

Rubio Takes One State

Gun news is thin because of Trump Mania. I was hoping Rubio would have a better day than he did on super yesterday. But he did win Minnesota. Seen on the Facebooks, I had a friend who will remain nameless (you know who you are) say this following Internet winning quote:

Minnesota got it right. Looks like they got their “we’re mad as hell, not gonna take it anymore and electing a loudmouthed, unqualified hack because fuck you” out of their system a couple decades ahead of the rest of the country.

I wonder who he could be talking about? Oh yeah:

It’s been a long progression. First I thought maybe Scott Walker would be a good candidate, but I wasn’t pleased with his response to Obergefell (calling for a constitutional amendment), and then Trump basically sucked all the oxygen out of the room and ran Walker’s campaign clean out of money. With Walker out of money, I gravitated toward Carly Fiorina, but she surged then fizzled. She also had the weakness of the Dems already having an effective opposition book written for her. OK, that leaves Rubio, who is a bit to happy with the surveillance state for my tastes, but most of these losers are. It’s always been my belief that Cruz was just kind of fundamentally unlikable and would not do much to bring needed voters into the GOP tent to win. Maybe I should start liking Trump. That seems to be a surefire way to doom someone’s campaign.

Jim Geraghty thinks it needs to stay a three man race, since the goal now will be to deny Trump the votes needed to clinch, and force a brokered convention. This makes sense to me, since if Cruz drops out one can expect that some percentage of his support goes to Trump rather than Rubio, and vice versa if Rubio drops out.

Justice Thomas Asks Question for First Time in 10 Years

And it’s a gun related case. You can see the transcript here.

JUSTICE THOMAS: Ms. Eisenstein, one question.

Can you give me ÂÂ — this is a misdemeanor violation. It suspends a constitutional right. Can you Â give me another area where a misdemeanor violation suspends a constitutional right?

MS. EISENSTEIN: Your Honor, I ÂÂ I’m thinking about that, but I think that the — the question is not — as I understand Your Honor’s question, the culpability necessarily of the act or in terms of the offense.

JUSTICE THOMAS: Well, I’m — I’m looking atÂ the ÂÂ you’re saying that recklessness is sufficient to trigger a violation — misdemeanor violation of domestic conduct that results in a lifetime ban on possession of a gun, which, at least as of now, is still a constitutional right.

Emphasis mine. If you’re in a Super Tuesday state, please consider the future of the Second Amendment is riding on this election. I don’t care whether you pick Cruz or Rubio, but please God, we can’t have a nominee that doesn’t even understand how the courts work picking Scalia’s and probably three other replacements. Anybody but Trump!

Did Twitter Help Destroy the Small Blog?

Gun news is short today, so I’m going to link to an article over at Instapundit talking about whether Twitter helped destroy the conservative ecosystem. I’m not so sure. I started blogging in 2007, before Twitter was really a thing, and I noticed trouble for the ecosystem before Twitter started getting really popular.

If I had to point out two factors that killed the small blog, it was two things. The first is the disappearance of reliable and timely inbound link tracking like pingbacks. Google can do this, but it’s not as good as what used to be out there. So it’s harder today to tell when a blog is linking to you, in order to keep a conversation among a community going.

The second factor that killed off the small blog was the arrival of commercial blogging. It’s hard for hobbyists to compete against people who are getting paid, and most of those commercial operations came with competent and well-executed SEO strategies that sucked all the Google love out of the room for people who did not have the time or inclination to compete.

I’ve never noticed that Twitter is all that consequential traffic wise for blogs. Maybe other people have different experiences. While my largest referrers are still other blogs, Facebook has been licking the heels of other blogs for a while in terms of where my traffic comes from. A lot of conservative bloggers are abandoning Twitter, and just using it to push links, since Twitter has chosen to take sides in political debates and ban or stifle opposing thought. I never honestly embraced Twitter all that much, except for very brief periods of time. I’d be pleased if the platform went away. It’s tough say anything intelligent in 140 characters or less, so I’m not surprised it tends to appeal to the worst kinds of people.

McAuliffe Signs Compromise Legislation, Bloomberg Proceeds to Shoot Himself in the Foot

Governor Terry McAuliffe signed the deal that offers Virginia near universal reciprocity in exchange a few things he wanted that don’t honestly amount to much. I guess now I can shred the applications for Utah and Virginia non-resident permits. Bitter’s family is in Nashville, and Virginia is an awfully large portion of that trip when we decide to make it. We had actually worked out a plan that bypassed Virginia, but it added about an hour to the trip.

Bloomberg, however, is having none of this:

â€œGovernor McAuliffe cut a backroom deal with the NRA. It betrays both gun violence survivors and gun safety advocates and endangers the safety of Virginians. We expected more from Governor McAuliffe â€“ and we will continue pressing him to stand up for the 91 Americans a day killed by gun violence and hundreds more who are injured.â€

Early on in Bloomberg’s gun control activism, you could find his spokespeople saying they wanted to bring NRA’s “take no prisoners” approach to the fight for more gun control, believing that it was the key to NRA’s success. What they failed to understand is the breadth and depth of NRA’s support among ordinary Americans. Ordinary Americans who may not be all the quick to anger, but when roused, can become a force of nature. McAuliffe likely noticed this and that’s why he looked for a face-saving way out.

What did Bloomberg offer grassroots-wise? A 3000 signature petition and sad letters from a small handful of victims. Virginia has 363,274 residents with permits, according to John Lott’s survey. Not everyone who has a permit is an NRA member, or even a Republican. Bloomberg isn’t going to win trying to pay NRA’s game because he fundamentally can’t play NRA’s game. There isn’t enough breadth or depth from the gun control movement.

Weekly Gun News – Edition 28

I was worried for a bit I wouldn’t have enough news, but I think I can give a news post a try:

Smart: Given the death of Justice Scalia, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association is declining to seek review by the Supreme Court of the Circuit Court’s decision to uphold the SAFE Act. The stakes just keep rising, and the voters just keep failing.

Can’t stop the signal.

Police in the UK seize an “arsenal.” Only this time it really is one.

Hillary ought to be upset at the lawyers preying on Sandy Hook families with hopeless lawsuits.

NRA eliminates women’s division in small bore rifle shooting, because the ladies can shoot just as well as the men.

SayUncle: “I guess [this] appeals to the same sort of person who buys truck nuts.”

Only the police can be trusted with guns.

It’s official, we have a ballot fight in Maine this November. Ballot measures should be unconstitutional, because they violate the guarantee clause of the Constitution, which guarantees every state a republican form of government.

The astroturf group comprised of nannying billionaires is trying to run another ballot measure in Washington State.

Opposition growing to Gavin Newsom’s ballot initiatives in California.

Yet another attempt by our opponents (namely Mike Bloomberg) to expand the class of prohibited person. They’ll keep doing this until a speeding ticket will cause you to lose your Second Amendment rights.

Maybe because gun control is an issue of old white women: “Why Donâ€™t Bernie Sandersâ€™s Millennial Supporters Care About His Record on Guns?”

Glenn Reynolds on Leland Yee getting 5 years: “I added the stuff in caps because theÂ LA TimesÂ left it out of the headline.” Left out the little things, like the fact that he was gun running for tong gangs and wasn’t just run-of-the-mill corrupt.

Charles C.W. Cooke covers Iowan anti-gunners going ape shit because the state wants to allow kids to shoot handguns with adult supervision. Does anyone for a minute doubt what these people would do if they had the political power?

Constitutional Carry passes West Virginia Senate overwhelmingly. It’s passed before. The Governor vetoed it.

What Could have Given Crooks The Idea that NRA’s Outdoor Show Would Have Light Security?

There was bound to be a price to pay for Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse’s one man crusade against NRA because they wouldn’t agree to being shaken down by the grifters that run that city. Given all the headlines about his withdrawal of police presence at the show, it looks like some crooks got the message. First at the Civil War Museum display NRA sponsored, and now a missing submachine gun that was stolen and caught in tape.

Way to go Mayor Papenfuse. Your childish antics have put more guns “on the streets” than 99% of gun owners.

Reid Won’t Retaliate over Scalia Replacement

Harry Reid is saying the Democratic Minority won’t retaliate against the GOP for refusing to consider Obama’s replacement for Justice Scalia:

Neither side expects the political chasm over the issue to significantly affect legislative business for the rest of the year. Bills to overhaul prison sentencing, combat heroin abuse, and reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration still have a chance of passage, as does a patent bill.

Thatâ€™s partly because Democrats have announced they will not engage in reprisal obstruction.

That’s because both side are using the issue to rally the base. Politically, it’s a bet, and as Trump is looking to lock in the nomination, the Dems are probably liking their odds. No sense in blowing everything up if you think you have a winning hand. If you look at things from the Dem perspective, Trump will crash and burn, and the Republicans could either outright lose or be weaker in the Senate. The best they could do right now is a compromise candidate. From the Republican side, the idea that a Democratic President and possibly Democrat Senate raises the stakes in this election substantially.

It’s good news for the Second Amendment that Reid won’t try to force a replacement now. Given GOP turnout numbers in the primary vs. Dem turnout numbers, I’m comfortable with the bet.