MSNBC Tries To Do a Good Gun Article

I’m always amused by the lack of knowledge of reporters:

But the semi-automatic ammunition used in one of the weapons would have been illegal under an assault weapons ban that expired in 2004

Semi-automatic ammunition?  What’s that?

That question, debated for almost 200 years, was first directly addressed by the Supreme Court in June 2008, when the court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Second Amendment refers to gun ownership as an “individual right,” affirming in the District of Columbia v. Heller case that a citywide ban on handguns was unconstitutional.

Except it hasn’t been debated for 200 years.  Not even really 100 years.  You won’t find any piece of writing from the 18th or 19th century that speaks to the Second Amendment as a collective right.  That notion didn’t come about until the 20th Century.

The proposals put forward by Obama, on the other hand, indicate a preference toward government restrictions intended to curb crime. During a debate on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, Obama described the right to bear arms as parallel to the right to own private property. In both cases, he said, local governments can regulate how the right is used, as with zoning laws in the case of property.

A preference to control crime, or control guns?  Controlling guns doesn’t control crime.  Didn’t you just admit in a previous paragraph that DC was the Murder Capital of the U.S. despite the ban?

But I’m mostly nitpicking.  Overall, it presents both sides of the issue well.  I just wish reporters would speak to experts more often to try to clear up facts.

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AFL-CIO Turning it On

Looks like the AFL-CIO is coming out big time for Obama:

“We’re like the angel on the other shoulder, saying, ‘Remember, you’ve got to get your other kid through college,'” says Mike Podhorzer, deputy political director for the AFL-CIO.

We’re like an angel on your shoulder to tell you that your rights don’t matter.  Come to us, we’ll feed you, take care of you, make sure that kid can go off to college.  Don’t pay any attention that Obama wants to redact 1/10th of the Bill of Rights.  Don’t worry about that.  Don’t worry that he’ll have to raise your taxes to pay for everything he’s promised.  We got your back!  How’s this for condescending?

Those voters “need to connect to their need for economic change so that it’s stronger than their fear of cultural change,” says Karen Nussbaum, Working America’s executive director. “I think it’s a challenge for a lot of white people to vote for a black candidate. They’ve never been asked to do it before.”

Dammit!  If only we could get these racist white working class Pennsylvanians to vote for a black man, we’d have this election in the bag!  Don’t forget honey, it was the conservative parts of Pennsylvania that voted for Lynn Swann.  Last I checked, he was a black man.  Don’t say they have never been asked to vote for a black man before, they have, and they did.  It was Philadelphia and its suburbs that put Rendell into office.

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Blue Trail Range Fundraiser

The Blue Trail range fundraiser, to help raise money for their mounting legal bills, was a great success.  One of the gun bloggers managed to attend:

One thing of note that concerned me. (And I apologize if this offends anyone.)  But I was rather distraught by the general age of the attendees. Many being what I’d label as either elderly or Vietnam vet age. I do not say this as insult, I greatly respect both groups.  But the twenty and thirty year olds were in very low quantity in comparison.  This put a chill down my spine…

I’ve seen many churches with similar demographics, and many churches that are now condominiums because once those demographic groups pass; the church no longer has enough members to sustain it.

There are plenty of young shooters out there.  Go to any gun show, you’ll see a mix of the young and the old.  Go to any club or community event, and you’ll see only old people.  Young people are not involved in the issue politically.  There are a few reasons for this:

  • Young people are eschewing civic organizations as a whole.
  • Young people have less time to devote to civic engagement.
  • Young people seem to be less interested in competitive shooting.
  • A lot of these guys don’t know defeat.  I was nineteen when the Brady Act passed.  I was twenty when the assault weapons ban passed.  A lot of these guys in their twenties don’t realize that gun control will come for them.  I see the guns these guys check out at the shows.  They really don’t know they are a target and can lose their rights.

He’s observed something here that I do think is a real problem.  If we don’t create a new generation of gun leaders, when the existing generation gets too old or dies off, were screwed.  People have to get involved if we want to keep this right.  There really is no other alternative.

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“I’m An NRA Member, And I Support Obama”

You have to admit, it takes a lot of guts to get up in front of a whole country, and admit that you’re a fool.

UPDATE: This guy isn’t fooled:

You know, I’d love to believe that Obama is cool with guns and hunting, but when the nation’s largest and most radical group that wants to ban hunting thinks he’s peachy, it makes this middle-aged redneck think that maybe Barack is full of B’crap and his “pro gun/hunting” spiel is just another con job spun by the King of Obfuscation. But that’s just me.

Any hunters who trusts a Chicago politician from Hyde Park to look after his interests is nuts, to say the least.

UPDATE: Of course, that’s not stopping Ray Schoenke from trying to convince hunters that cuddling up with the environmental lobby that wants to ban their ammunition is the way to go.  Let’s not also forget that AHSA has endorsed Obama, who is also endorsed by HSUS, who want to ban hunting.  Some hunting group eh?

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Best Blog Icon Ever

I love this guy’s blog icon.  It goes so well with the title.  Since my pseudonym has its roots with a certain baroque era composer, I wish I could have thought up something this good.  Of course, I think Beethoven probably has better public recognition than Johann Sebastian Bach.

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Begun, These Sign Wars Have

Bitter and I just got back from counterattacking the Patrick Murphy Campaign.  We placed Tom Manion signs at an untouched main roadway where there was a good bit of public property.  We also counterattacked two Murphy positions at key exits.  We ran out of ammunition (signs) and were unable to continue the fight.  We will resupply, and attack the remaining positions sometime this week.  We cannot allow a sign gap!  Take that, you gun banning asshole!

People might argue that signage doesn’t matter, but it does.  A lot of people really aren’t very aware of congressional races, and you don’t want them to just see Murphy signs around.  You want your candidate’s name to stick in their heads, so when they start looking for election information, they remember.  This is epsecially important if you’re not an incumbent.

Signs are also a form of psychological warfare.  When the Murphy people drive by their signs tomorrow morning, they will know Manion people are in the area, ready to ambush their turf and match them sign for sign.  It’s incredibly demoralizing.  Manion supporters will also know that they have neighbors who support their candidate, and they aren’t freaks after all.  It’s always good to let your people know they aren’t freaks.

But most importantly, it’s a moral booster for you, the activist.  There’s fun in the attack, knowing it will anger Murphy’s Minions. As you thrust each sign into (hopefully) soft earth, you can take great satisfaction in thinking “Ha!  Here’s a nice little f*&k you from the NRA, Pat!  Stick that in your assault weapons ban and smoke it!”  If you don’t really like people, putting out signs is a great way to contribute.

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Hey, It Worked For Me!

Glenn Reynolds points out, in trying to explain why there are more male political bloggers than female:

Men are genetically programmed to try to stand out through action, in the hopes of attracting women. It’s true, of course that blogging is a relatively ineffective way of doing that — but so are many other ways this urge manifests itself, like extreme Star Trek fandom. The point is the genetically programmed urge, which isn’t programmed into women in the same manner. Is this true? Beats me, but it’s amusing.

Ilya Somin suggest this wouldn’t be a very efficient way to find women:

Since political blogging reaches an overwhelmingly male audience, it probably isn’t a very efficient way to attract women. It may not be quite as irrational a dating strategy as trying to attract women through “extreme Star Trek fandom,” but it’s probably less effective than checking out to Ladies’ Night at the local bar. If you spend a lot of time blogging, you probably could have devoted that time to other activities where meeting women would be more likely.

Speak for yourself gentlemen, but it worked for me.  Bars might be an easy way to get laid, but going after female bloggers you like is a far better long term strategy.  And what better way to attract them than by starting a blog yourself?

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