SayUncle points out that American Hunters and Shooters Assocation is shilling for Obama the Socialist Messiah. AHSA has pretty thoroughly unmasked itself as an anti-gun false flag operation, especially with Bob Ricker occaisonally making appearances in the comments of gun blogs berating gun rights activists. The Jolly Roger is flying high on AHSA mast, but that actually doesn’t matter too much, in their minds. What Ricker and Schoenke are hoping for is that most hunters and shooters don’t know what a pirate ship looks like, and will hear their endorsement and think it means Obama is down with the hunters, and by association gun rights. The problem is, people aren’t that stupid, and the word is getting out there. It takes an extra special kind of prick to take people for such fools, but that’s exactly what the Schoenke and Ricker do.
New Theme
Obviously, as you all have noticed by now, I’m playing around with a new theme. The one I was using was getting pretty long in the tooth, and didn’t support WordPress widgets, so I decided to grab and heavily modify a theme that did. I tried to do my best to change as little as possible from the way the old theme works, but there are differences. Feel free to let me know if you find anything particularly annoying, as changes can be made. Especially let me know if something doesn’t look right in IE, Opera, or some other browser I don’t use.
Added benefit to the new widget based theme is I’ve added a “Top Commenter” sidebar, which shows those of you that most need to get a life ;)Â Don’t feel bad, I’m really the top commenter, but I figured it wasn’t fair of me to compete against you all in the “need to get a life” category, so I excluded myself.
UPDATE: Folks seem to like it. I might have to put up a poll after a week or so. I’m still getting used to it myself. It’s like looking at someone else’s blog.
Front Row Seats
Dave Kopel had front row seats at Heller oral arguments, sitting at the attorneys table with Alan Gura. Go read his accounting of it.
How They Voted
You can follow this link to see how legislators voted on Levdansky’s “Lost and Stolen” amendment.
My state representative, Chris King, voted for this turd, voted against Rep. Metcalfe’s emergency license to carry provision, voted yes on the emergency powers amendment to prevent a Katrina-like incident in Pennsylvania, and voted yes on revoking the restriction on concealed carry in state parks. Two out of four gets you a C. Ultimately, I’m pleased the “Lost and Stolen” provision Mr. King voted for didn’t pass, and the Metcalfe amendment passed despite his vote, but it’s the vote that counts.
Details on HB 1845
Amendments passed to HB 1845:
| A06414 (GODSHALL) | 202-0 | Allows chiefs of police and police commissioners to be exempt from UFA requirements for purchasing firearms for official purposes |
| A06170 (HARPER) | 159-44 | Make it a crime to falsely report the loss or theft of a firearm. |
| A06346 (FAIRCHILD) | 203-0 | Extends Licenses to Carry expiration for deployed military personnel until 90 days until after return from duty. |
| A06467 (FAIRCHILD) | 180-22 | Prevents law enforcement from seizing firearms, ammunition or accessories during a state of emergency, unless such a seizure would be lawful absent the state of emergency |
| A06378 (ADOLPH) | 202-0 | Extends the statute of limitations to five years on unlawful firearms transfers. |
| A06465 (D. O’BRIEN) | 202-0 | Amends the original statute of limitations to no more than eight years, but allows for prosecution for up to one year after discovery of crime by authorities within that eight year window. |
| A06348 (METCALFE) | 147-55 | Provides for immediate issuance of temporary emergency licenses to carry that last for up to 90 days. Bill would allow someone to walk into the sheriff’s office, file proof of danger, swear an affidavit, undergo a background check, and walk out with the temporary license. |
| A06415 (O’NEILL) | 202-0 | Enhances penalties for making false statements in connection to purchasing a firearm. |
| A06178 (LEVDANSKY) | 75-128 (failed) | Requires a Lost or Stolen Firearm to be reported or face criminal penalties. |
| A06542 (GODSHALL) | 202-0 | Creates a registry of lost and stolen firearms. Entries to be deleted after 20 years, or upon return to lawful owner. |
| A06547 (STABACK) | 197-5 | Allows for carry in state parks by License to Carry Firearms holders, and also for law enforcement officers. |
This, overall, is a good deal for gun owners. The Philly politicians are getting several new tools they can use to go after criminal trafficking of firearms. We will, of course, want to see Philadelphia actually using these laws on criminals. It does no good to not enforce them, and then come back bitching to gun owners they need more controls. This bill gives them some good things, and they need to use them.
We contacted our reps to tell them to oppose the Lost and Carry bill, and it made quite a difference. Now it’s time to contact them and encourage them to support final passage of HB 1845.
Breaking News!
A vote happened on House Bill 1845 tonight. The Lost and Stolen amendment went down in flames 75-128. In it’s place, an amendment was filed that makes it a crime to falsely report a firearm as stolen, and this amendment passed. The “emergency powers” amendment was also passed, along with a provision to get rid of the ban on carry in state parks. A final vote on the bill will happen tomorrow. Needless to say, we want to support passage of this bill as amendment.
Great work by the NRA, and all the other groups who were involved, and all the individual citizens who called their state representatives, in defeating the Lost and Stolen bill, and making sure gun owners got something out of it. I certainly won’t complain about the state park provision!
UPDATE: Looks like we didn’t get castle doctrine, but I’m hearing that will get another committee hearing.
NRA Alert on HB 1845
NRA Alerts that the HB 1845 could be voted on as soon as Wednesday, and there is still an attempt to get the “Lost and Stolen” bill attached to it:
Anti-gun State Representative David Levdansky (D-39) may try to amend this legislation to include a provision that would require gun owners to report the loss or theft of a firearm to law enforcement. The amendment would create criminal penalties for the failure to report a lost or stolen firearm. This amendment was debated last week on the House floor, but no vote was taken.
Please contact your State Representative TODAY and respectfully urge him or her to oppose the amendment proposed by State Representative Levdansky, and any other amendments that threaten the rights of Pennsylvania’s law-abiding gun owners. For contact information for your State Representative, please click here.
If I sound like a broken record with the “contact your reps” crap, it’s because it’s really really important. I contact mine so much I almost expect him to know me by name when I am introduced to him next Monday.
Meow
This is very wrong. This is a joke right? It is April Fools Day, after all.
UPDATE: My friend Jason tells me that when it comes to putting stuffed cats onto guns, the Israeli Defense Forces don’t fool around.
Thoughts on Health Care
Clayton Cramer is thinking about health care in Idaho, and, unlike some presidential candidates, his ideas don’t revolve around a massive government takeover. Health care is one of those things people are concerned with, so you have to have ideas, especially if you’re running for state senate.
NFA Process
Given the recent pant shitting hysterics in Kansas about the legislature there allowing Title II firearms to be sold, it’s worthwhile to look at what a local Pennsylvania firearms owner had to go through to possess a short barreled rifle, which are subject to the same law as machine guns, legally.
Kansas have not much to fear from this process, though the anti-gun folks are sure to prattle on about machine guns being handed out in the streets to schoolchilden like they were candy.