A Compromise on the Cell Phone Issue

The State House passed a bill yesterday that would address the cell phone while driving issue.

Ross’s proposal would impose additional fines for a person cited for careless driving if they were found, among other things, to be reading, eating, grooming, or gabbing on a cell phone. Unlike Rep. Josh Shapiro’s cell-phone amendment, Ross’s amendment would make those violations a secondary, rather than primary offense.

I think that’s a fair compromise.  If you can’t talk on the cell phone without commiting the traffic offense of careless driving, then I don’t have any problem with the secondary offense.  It also includes a number of other items that are equally hazardous.  Shapiro’s bill was too draconian.  If I’m stuck in traffic, I don’t want to risk a fine because I call the office to tell them I’m running late.  Not much of a risk to the public for calls of that nature.

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Talk About Over the Top

Robert Legge of the Culpeper Star Exponent, is helping the newspaper live up to its name by some exponentially sour rhetoric about the National Rifle Association:

Joining the NRA became almost a patriotic duty, especially for rural Americans. But somewhere along the way, the NRA’s tenor grew more ominous. After the 1994 sieges at Waco and Ruby Ridge, the NRA leadership whipped up anti-government hysteria, culminating in a famous fundraising letter warning of “jackbooted thugs … (who could) break in our doors, seize our guns, destroy our property, and injure or kill us.”

Timothy McVeigh bought into that kind of incendiary rhetoric. A week after that NRA letter was sent, he blew up the federal Murrah building, killing many of the U.S. federal agents he so despised.

Actually, the infamous “jackbooted thugs” rhetoric can trace its origins to Congressman John Dingell (D-MI).  But why let the facts get in the way when you’re trying to pin McVeigh on the NRA.

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There’s No Winning

The Army’s new green training rounds carry with it a cancer risk because of the tungsten.  They’ve stopped production.  Maybe they should go talk to Dan Smith of ICC, who’s ammo we shot last summer at Blackwater with Todd Jarrett.  That stuff is non-toxic sintered copper and tin, and it worked well.

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Looking for the Facts

Robb Allen is trying to help a friend of his who is looking to buy his first firearm, only problem is, his friend’s wife thinks its dangerous to keep a gun in the house.  My advice is to seek out training after you make your decision.  If home defense is really what you’re looking for, a shotgun may be more competently wielded by beginner than a pistol, and a shotgun has far greater stopping power.  If kids are part of the picture, a shotgun is less accident prone.  If you really want a pistol, a quick open safe is recommended if there’s kids in the house.  Trigger locks are dangerous.  If one comes with your gun throw it away and find a better way to secure it.

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Gillibrand Sponsors Lautenberg Bill

JR reports she’s listed as a consponsor on the bill, and adds:

Isn’t this the same Kirsten Gillibrand everyone was sending money to because she was such a pro-gun Democrat?

I will admit I was thoroughly wrong about Kirsten Gillibrand.  But at the time I was her advocate, there was no evidence to doubt Gillibrand’s fidelity to the issue except for a lot of cynicism.  Sometimes cynicism turns out to be right, and this was one of those cases.  But cynicism is also destructive if taken too far.

But prior to her elevation to the Senate, she signed on to everything NRA ever asked her to, including co-sponsoring ATF reform, signing into the Heller brief, and voting for DC gun rights.  Do I regret supporting her?  Yep.  But hindsight is always 20/20.  You have to take chances sometimes.  They won’t always work out.  I’m taking one with my new State Representative.  Taking a back seat and seeing how things turn out is not going to be effective, because politicians don’t come to your view through the righteousness of it, they come to it by being influenced.  I don’t see any logic in standing outside of that process, and automatically cede that ground to our opponents.

Nonetheless, if you were a hoodwinked supporter of hers, I would encourage you to make your displeasure known to her here, as I have done, especially if you’re a resident of New York.  I would also note that even if her Republican opponent is anti-gun, you’d at least be helping put the Senate back in charge of lawmakers who will support us.

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Blue Trail Range Update

Blue Trail Range has been out of the news lately, but it looks like it’s still operating with its safety improvements.  We’ve blogged about their trials and tribulations often here.  Reader TacDriver ran some ballistic calculations on the range, based on topographical data.  As results indicated, the house that complained about being hit is in the ballistic shadow of the mountain.

btr_308smktrajectories

This is good work, I think, and I’m glad TacDriver took the time to do it, and share it with us.

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More Rally Coverage from Yesterday

The Allentown Morning Call has coverage of the event here.  Apparently they checked 63 guns in total.  Mine would be among them.  NUGUN also has some coverage here, here, some great photos here, and finally here.  What’s really interesting is that NUGUN got a photo of the reporter interviewing the Grumbines for the article above.  I noticed him because we follow his blog.

Allentown Morning Call Interview

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Feeling the Itch

I think it was Eric Raymond said that “Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer’s personal itch.”  Last week, Dave Carpenter, our Silhouette Director asked me about using database software to keep track of our matches.  That’s where the itch started.  As if I don’t yet have too little time with all that I’m doing, I’m thinking of starting a new Open Source software project.

It wouldn’t really be all that hard to program all the scoring parameters into software for the various NRA, IPSC, IHMSA, IDPA, and whatever other governing bodies you can think of, into a LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) system that keeps track of people’s scores, averages, personal bests, and be able to track how shooters are moving in the rankings, and is able to generate match reports in either HTML, PDF, or whatever other format you can think up, and there is PHP code for.

I think this could be a great help to match directors, as compiling scores can be time consuming.  But is there anything else out there that does such a thing?  Dave currently uses spreadsheets to do it all, but it gets complicated in spreadsheet software.  Plus, I’m thinking of clubs could easily and quickly integrate match results into their web sites, that could be a fantastic way to keep people interested.

What do you all thing about such an idea?  Any match directors out there want to comment?

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Wisconsin Issues

In addition to Wisconsin considering microstamping legislation, it looks like Ed Rendell’s buddy, Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, is pushing some of the same issues.  He’s suggesting local communities be allowed to pass their own ordinances regulating firearms.  The attorney general recently issued an opinion reminding law enforcement officials that carrying firearms openly was lawful in the State of Wisconsin.  No matter though, the Milwaukee Police Chief says he’ll just ignore it.

“My message to my troops is if you see anybody carrying a gun on the streets of Milwaukee, we’ll put them on the ground, take the gun away and then decide whether you have a right to carry it,” Flynn said. “Maybe I’ll end up with a protest of cowboys. In the meantime, I’ve got serious offenders with access to handguns. It’s irresponsible to send a message to them that if they just carry it openly no one can bother them.”

How many gang bangers, shooting it out on the streets of Milwaukee, are openly carrying their gat?  It’s a lawful activity, and Wisconsin’s recent right to bear arms constitutional provision, passed in 1998, protects that right from local interference.

If the City of Milwaukee wants to deal with multiple federal civil rights suits, under Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code, they’re welcome.  In fact, I dare him to do what he’s suggesting.  I would remind Cheif Ed Flynn that Section 1983 allows a plantiff to sue you personally, not just you in your official capacity, for violation of civil rights.  So if you want to end up paying for a gun rights activist’s ammo supply for the rest of his life, I’d urge the City to get Flynn on a leash now, while this can still be handled cheaply.  Once faces start hitting concrete, all bets are off.

I would urge open carry activists in Wisconsin to laywer up.  Get good ones who know how to handle 1983 suits.  Plan this out.  Don’t just tell every yahoo to open carry in downtown Milwaukee and then end up creating a mess.

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