More Preemption Challenges

Both the Pittsburgh papers and the Lancaster papers are running editorials on the “Lost and Stolen” provisions that are being passed around the state:

With every right comes a responsibility. You would think that every law-abiding gun owner would want to report a missing firearm as soon as the theft was discovered and would not object to a law on it for a sound public-safety reason — deterrence of so-called “straw purchases” that criminals use to obtain guns.

Yes, people should report lost or stolen firearms.  I believe that.  But failure to do so shouldn’t result in a huge fine and prison time.  You do not victimize people who are themselves victims.  There’s absolutely no evidence whatsoever that these regulations discourage straw purchasing, which is already a felony.  None.  Nada.  The burden should be on those proposing the regulation that it actually works, and doesn’t risk entraping people who are not involved in the illegal arms trade, which these regulations very much do.

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National Park Carry

Some of you remember I mentioned the date to look for on this issue was October the 10th, which has come and gone.  The problem, I’m told, is that there’s no rule about when rule changes have to go into effect once they are finalized.  Apparently ATF has had final rules pending for years.  I’m not sure how much leverage NRA is going to have with a lame duck administration, and it’s important to keep in mind that the NPS bureaucracy is very much against this rule change.  There’s a possibility there’s feet being dragged in the hopes that the next administration will be happy to kill the rule.  I sincerely hope we can get a new rule in there before the next administration.

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Guns in Airports: Laying the Groundwork

CBS News is surprised to find that in most states, it’s legal to carry a firearm in the non-sterile areas of most of our nation’s airports:

An Associated Press survey of the 20 busiest U.S. airports found that seven of them – Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and San Francisco – let people with gun permits carry firearms in the general public areas of the terminal.

Some anti-terrorism experts say that is a glaring security loophole that could endanger airport workers, passengers and people waiting to pick them up or see them off. Some suggest that allowing guns in terminals is practically asking for them to be smuggled aboard a plane.

It’s not a security loophole.  The magnetometers and X-ray machines at the security checkpoint are the only way to actually make sure someone isn’t armed.  You can make a rule that says you can’t, but guess what?  The only people who are going to obey it are people like me who have a license to carry.  The terrorists are going to do what terrorists do.  The only way to make the entire airport truly sterile is to screen anyone coming in or out.

It’s pretty clear what the media is doing here: raising awareness of the issue, so that under an Obama administration, which they are doing everything in their power to elect, this can be one of the many subtle ways to stick it to gun owners.  Remember that Obama has supported a nationwide ban on concealed carry, whether you have a license to do so or not.  This would be a no brainer for him.

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Phone Banking

Last night Bitter and I hosted a small phone banking party.  Phone banking is not something I’ve been doing, because I hate talking on the phone, especially to random strangers.  But I tried it.  I’ve discovered it’s mostly leaving messages on answering machines, and we have a script for that.  The script is very nice and polite.  The thought of changing it up a bit amused me:

“I’m a fellow sportsmen calling on behalf of McCain-Palin, we’re really looking for your support this fall because Barack Obama is well known to be a gun banning progressive weenie from the corrupt Chicago political establishment, who thinks we Pennsylvanians are bitter people who cling to our guns and religion because evil Republicans have ruined the economy.  Is that the kind of change you want?  Vote McCain-Palin on November 4th.  Thank you.  This call was paid for by the blood of American patriots, who brought us something called the First Amendment.  Have a great evening!”

That would have been a far better answering machine message, but alas, we have to appear professional, and make sure we follow the proper campaign finance rules.  I did have a few on the list who said they were voting for Obama. This is a list of people identified as sportsmen, who are either independents or soft Republicans within our district.  We don’t argue with the Obamatons, just thank them for taking the survey and move on.  Most people are supporting McCain/Palin, which is good news.

In total we called 212 people, and stuffed 250 or so envelopes for people to do literature drops on behalf of both McCain/Palin and Tom Manion for Congress.  We offered free pizza to anyone who showed up, which was paid for out of my own pocket.  I think that’s legal.  If the FEC wants to come after me for a few pizzas and some fried mushrooms, I’m sure they can track me down.

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Why We Lose

Stephen Green sums it up:

Libertarians/Conservatives like “Jay” and myself underestimate liberals/progressives — and what we’re guilty of is projection. But when we’re drunk and honest, we have to admit: We’re effing pikers. To restate more plainly: We don’t want power, and don’t know how to wield it. We’re pikers.

Progressives have no such qualms. Given power, they’ll take more and they’ll exercise it ruthlessly. Look at the Democrats in Congress these last two years. In not even 24 months, they’ve sunk to depths it took the Republican Congress six or more years to sink to. Their unpopularity levels are even worse than the Republicans’ in 2006. And what will happen in November? The Democrats will win seats — because they know how to wield their power to deliver the goods to please their corrupt, greedy, grabby, needy base.

I do everything I’m doing because I want the government to leave me the hell alone.  Sadly, there is no “leave me alone” constituency.  Everyone wants to put their noses into my business, and tell me what to do in one form or another.  The reason we lose politically is we have better things to do than to try to lord over others.  Sadly, that lets the ones who want to do it take power.

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Preemption Battle in Washington

Looks like round one goes to gun owners, but Joe notes that victory could be short lived if the legislature takes the issue up again.  Pennsylvania is going through similar problems right now, though I think there’s little chance of our legislature weakening preemption.  Things could go south for us in a hurry though, if we let it.  Especially under President Lightworker.

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An Open Letter to Sportsmen

From Richard Pearson:

I lobbied Barack Obama extensively while he was an Illinois State Senator. As a result of that experience, I know Obama’s attitudes toward guns and gun owners better than anyone. The truth be told, in all my years in the Capitol I have never met a legislator who harbors more contempt for the law-abiding firearm owner than does Barack Obama.

Read the whole thing.  Sadly, there are sportsmen who aren’t getting the message.

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Good Roundup on the .30 RAR

Murdoc has a good roundup on the .30 Remington AR.  I’m mostly of the “do we really need another AR caliber?” mindset, but I’m also not a hunter.  It would seem like the round is a good compromise between the .308, which requires a different lower receiver, and the 7.62×39 Soviet round, which they also make AR uppers for.  It’ll be interesting to see if this round gets any traction.

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We Know Obama Won’t Peresonally Take Them

Robb has a good post up refuting the arguments to all the Obamatons that been coming around telling us how crazy we are for thinking Barack Obama is going to take our guns.  One other thing I would add is that being able to own a gun doesn’t matter much if you have no where left to buy them, and nowhere left the shoot them.  Without gun shops and ranges, it’s a hunk of steel rusting in a closet.  The gun culture will be extinct within a generation.  They won’t have to come door-to-door.  People will get rid of them because there’s nothing left to support the gun culture.  Obama knows this, and he’ll probably keep his promise not to send the .gov around to confiscate your guns.  But he also knows he can destroy us without doing that.

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