Eugene Volokh offers some excellent criticism to the New York Times for the Brady Campaign inspired editorial from yesterday. I don’t think they really want to get into specifics too much at this point. They are mostly interested in getting the public used to hearing “reasonable” and “gun laws” in the same sentence, in the hopes that they’ll, by default, assume that all gun control laws are reasonable. The real sorry side to this story is that the New York Times chooses to do the heavy lifting for The Brady Campaign, rather than seriously think about the issues.
Hoisted on their Own Petard
I just got word from Matt Carmel, inventor of the Palm Pistol:
I thought you might be interested to learn that the FDA has completed its “Device/Not a Device” determination and concluded the Palm Pistol will be listed as a Class I Medical Device, exempt from 510(k) Pre-Market Notification in accordance with 21 CFR 890.5050 “Daily Activity Assist Device.”
I have now submitted an application to the CMS contractor Noridian for a DME (Durable Medical Equipment) Coding Verification in order to be assigned an HCPCS code. Once assigned , physicians will be able to prescribe the Palm Pistol for qualified patients who may seek reimbursement through Medicare or private health insurance companies.
Matt seems pretty confident that he’ll be able to get medicare to reemurse patients for the Palm Pistol:
All the “experts” said the Palm Pistol would be AOW and I proved them wrong. All the “experts” said the Palm Pistol would never be classified as a medical device by FDA and I proved them wrong. Now all the experts are saying there is no way this will be reimbursable under Medicare. Well, we shall see about that!
Go Matt! I love troublemakers, especially ones that create headaches for federal bureaucrats. The progressives created this system, and now we have hijacked it to help people buy guns! Matt has hoisted them on their own petard. This is the kind of creative thinking our movement needs.
Mr. Completely Still Having Problems
This is really bad news. Thoughts and Prayers from us all. Let’s hope he’ll be on the mend soon.
New DC Gun Law
Looks like DC is, once again, doing its level best to skirt the Supreme Court’s ruling in Heller:
The D.C. Council voted unanimously yesterday to give preliminary approval to legislation that would require gun owners to renew their registrations every three years and to notify police annually whether they still own guns.
The Fire Arms Registration Amendment, which would also ban assault weapons, was described as building on legislation passed by the council in September to adhere to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the city’s 32-year handgun ban.
The new legislation also mandates Microstamping, a practice that’s not common in the firearms industry. It also requires training, submission to a background check every six years. It also bans any unsafe handgun — whatever that means.
What the Chambliss Victory Means
Saxby Chambliss received 49.8% of the vote on November 4th. His Democratic rival, Jim Martin, received 46.8%, with 3.4% going to the Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley. Last night was the runoff election between Chambliss and Martin, which both sides dumped a lot of resources into, including NRA into helping Chambliss retain his Senate seat. Chambliss defeated Martin 57.4% to 42.6%. Between November and now, he increased his lead by 13 percentage points to sail to re-election in a landslide victory.
Aside from preserving a filibuster for Republicans, it will also serve as a warning to Democrats that their victory may be a lot more pyrrhic than they might like to imagine. Without Obama’s coattails to ride in the midterm election, Democrats might find themselves in serious trouble in 2010 if they overreach. The Republican Party is down, but not out, and Pelosi, Reid and Obama govern to the left at their peril. A third effect this will likely have is to decrease the likelihood the Democrats will up the ante in the Coleman/Franken election, since with Chambliss’ victory, it doesn’t matter as much now.
This is a good victory. A shot across the bow of the Democrats from the people of Georgia. We are down, but not out. On to 2010.
Now We’re Heroin Addicts
Remember Tonya Paine? Well, now we suburbanite gun owners need to be reigned in because we can’t stop ourselves from coming into their fair city to trade our guns for smack:
“We have a lot of suburbanites that come into this city carrying their arms and they trade them off for these stamp bags of heroin,” said Payne. “Let’s call a spade a spade. People don’t want to hear the truth.”
I’ve never even seen a stamp bag of herion, let alone ever traded a gun for one. I mean, accusing people of not wanting to hear the truth? Pot, meet kettle.
Odd Journalism
On the part of the Associated Press:
Officers fanned out around the northeast Philadelphia store in search of the alleged gunman, identified by police as Daryl Anthony Birch, 30. A telephone listing for Birch could not immediately be located by The Associated Press.
So the guy just shot a few people, is on the lam, and their first reaction was to try to track him down to get a statement? That would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
Never Seemed Like a Workable Idea
Looks like the newfangled sonic weapon, the LRAD, doesn’t work too well against pirates. I could never figure out how a loud noise was going to deter a determined attacker. I mean, these guys are presumably firing off a lot of AK-47s, which isn’t exactly quiet. The pirates seem to have used their AKs to shoot out the device.
Congress Gets it Wrong
No really, it’s not a political debate. They just got it wrong. The Capitol Visitor Center opened today, and Heritage Foundation’s Matt Spalding highlights how Congress got it wrong.
In the Visitor Center’s Exhibition Hall, the theme is “E Pluribus Unum — Out of Many, One.†Initially, words etched in marble called that stirring phrase the nation’s motto. A bad plaster job now covers the reference, someone having noticed that, well, “E Pluribus Unum†is not our national motto. “In God We Trust†is.
You’d think for a project that ran more than double the projected costs and is nearly 5 years overdue, they would take some time to get it right. But what’s more troubling is the blatant left-wing bias that permeates the exhibit. The Washington Times reports on the butchering of the Constitution:
He singled out the display on “Knowledge,” which he said selectively cuts the powers granted to Congress by Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, reducing the full explanation “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries” to an expansive grant: “The Congress shall have Power To … promote … useful Arts.”
The display says that grant of powers is the basis under which Congress has founded the Library of Congress, “promoted public education, supported the arts and sciences, and funded extensive research.”
Essentially anything in the Constitution that discusses a limit on power got chopped. Lovely.
The Times reports that members of both parties reviewed the education materials and approved them. In fact, the Architect of the Capitol, the office charged with creating the Visitor Center, noted in a letter that the GOP very specifically signed off on this interpretation:
In June of 2005, the Commission, under the Co-Chairmanship of Speaker Dennis Hastert and President Pro Tempore Senator Ted Stevens, unanimously approved the CVC exhibit plan and script of the thirteen minute orientation film. Subsequently, in December of 2006, the Commission unanimously approved the final version of the orientation film under the continuing leadership of Co-Chairmen Hastert and Stevens.
And because this is a gun blog, there’s no mention of the Second Amendment of any text of it anywhere in the educational materials or the script of the movie. Unfortunately, combined with the hatchet job done on the rest of the Constitution, these are gaps that not even a bad plaster job can fill.
UPDATE: Oh yeah, and Harry Reid is just happy he doesn’t have to smell the common people anymore.
And now with video:
Careful With Those Reloads
Personally, I would never buy reloads. I’ll shoot my own, but that’s about it. This is why. Looks to me like someone got rifle powder mixed up with pistol powder. He’s lucky to not be seriously injured.