Bloomberg Still Using Mayors Against Their Wishes

Even after getting into media trouble signing a dead man’s name to letters for years, MAIG still isn’t careful about actually checking in with mayors to see if a) they actually support their gun ban agenda or b) if they are even in the coalition.

One California mayor is now saying that their use of his name on lobbying letters is illegal since he is not part of the group and made his resignation clear months ago.

Engagement

I am (perhaps unsurprisingly) a constant customer of Baen Books, both in the era of its founding by Jim Baen and now under the able leadership of Toni Weisskopf. They print books that entertain me, though the Baen logo is neither a necessary nor a sufficient guarantee that I will be entertained. In the past year or so, a cultural conflict in the Science Fiction domain has brewed up, another theater in the overall culture war. Diatribes have been written, ably and poorly, by all combatants as well as their allied hosts. Toni has this particular one, and Sarah Hoyt has reprinted it someplace I can easily link to. It’s long, and a lot of it is domain-specific, but the conclusion has relevance to the RKBA culture war. Emphasis is mine

But are the popular awards worth fighting for? I’m not sure our side has ever really tried, though there are indications that previous attempts to rally readers of non-in-group books were thwarted in ways that were against the rules of the game. And yet, to quote Heinlein, “Certainly the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you. If you don’t bet, you can’t win.”

I think the problem is that folks just really feel they have no possible conversation with the other side any more, that the battle for this part of the culture isn’t worth fighting. And I think again SF is mirroring the greater American culture. Our country is different because it, like science fiction fandom, was built around an idea—not geographic or linguistic accident, but an idea—we hold these truths to be self evident. And it is becoming more and more obvious that the two sides of American culture no longer share a frame of reference, no points of contact, no agreement on the meaning of the core ideas.

And yet, I can’t help but think that at some point, you have to fight or you will have lost the war. The fight itself is worth it, if only because honorable competition and conflict leads to creativity, without which we, science fiction, as a unique phenomenon, die.

This is why I blog, I engage in arguments and debates (and a little bit of trolling as well) in comment sections and on Facebook (and on Twitter back when I still had the energy). You have to fight or you will have lost the war. Despite the famous line, they can take our freedoms. But we have to remember what the actual objective is. The objective is not to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, or hear the lamentations of their supporters. That might be a side effect, but the objective is to regain our freedoms and build the institutions that will support and protect them in the coming generations. And to do that we have to convince the undecided. To do that, we have to engage, have discussions with outsiders where it can be seen. And, of course, we have to both be and appear to be correct and reasonable.

How to get your gun in New Jersey – a layman’s guide

New Jersey requires permits to purchase firearms – for longarms, it’s a Firearms Purchasers ID card, issued once and good for life (unless revoked, or you move; it has your street address on it). This card is de jure and practically de facto shall-issue, the only quirk being that, while the legislature wrote a “must issue within 30 days (45 for out-of-state applicants)” into the law, the NJ Judiciary interpreted this as “must issue after the background check is complete;” in effect neutralizing the time limit. Now, while the form to apply for a FPID and the process is uniform statewide, it is administered by the local Chief Law Enforcement officer or the New Jersey State Police for jurisdictions without their own police agency. Furthermore, some jurisdictions have had long-standing traditions and or municipal regulations of having additional requirements not specified in the law, such as additional forms beyond the application and mental health release (Available on the NJSP’s website as PDFs to save and print), interview requirements, and other impediments to the process to purchase a firearm. Of late there is an effort by the NJ Second Amenment Society to sue non-compliant governments to force them to comply with the law, this has been mostly successful with out of court settlements in most cases. Unfortunately, due to the caselaw, the 30-day time limit is not subject to being enforced by lawsuit, so the time it takes to actually receive the FPID is highly variable – my town is generally considred to be middle-of-the-road and I required 6+ weeks both times I applied. Applicants in other towns have had to threaten or actually sue as their wait time approached moths or even a year+. The card itself neither laminated nor standard credit-card size, nor a photo ID. It had your identifying info on one side, and your signature, the CLEO signature, and your fingerprint on the other. It allows you to purchase longarms, as long as you fill out a transfer form and if buying from an FFL, undergo a state-run background check (I understand the FFL calls the NJSP, who runs a quick file check and a NICS check). The last time I bought a longarm it took less time to process that check than it did for me to fill out the 4473 and NJ’s own transfer form.

For handguns, you instead use a Permit to Purchase a Handgun. The application process is exactly the same as the process for obtaining a Firearm Purchasers ID Card, down to using the exact same forms (only checking a different box) – because you need to show an FPID and have the transaction logged when purchasing ammunition from an FFL (ammo for rentals is generally exempt from this requirement), it’s generally considered wise to obtain an FPID at the same time you get your first pistol permit to both take advantage of being able to use the same forms and to be able to buy ammunition retail. Note than “handgun ammo” is considered to be “any ammo that can be used in a handgun,” and includes both “traditional” pistol calibers and .22lr at least. I believe most FFLs log all ammo purchases, but since my only firearms eat 9mm and .22lr, I don’t know for sure. Once complete, you receive a paper form good for 90 days, which can be extended for 90 more days (de jure non-discretionary, and usually de facto as well). This may be used to purchase 1 handgun either privately or through an FFL. If through an FFL, another background check at point of sale applies.

Now, the legislation setting up this scheme was passed in the late 1960s, and the fees were specified at that time and have not been adjusted since then. Consequently, they are relatively trivial; though there is an additional fee nowadays since the entire state now jobs out the fingerprinting to a private company who charges not quite $60 for the job. Fingerprinting is not necessarily required for subsequent paperwork obtained from the same issuing authority as before (at their discretion). Without fingerprinting, the cost is generally under $50 to get a set of permits, often much less. So what some enthusiasts will do is apply for mulitple permits (currently there’s no reason to have more than 3 live ones due to NJ’s one-handgun-a-month scheme), and refresh/replace as the come due, so that they always have the ability to buy a handgun without having to wait out the normal process. If your issuing authority is reasonable, this isn’t a terribly expensive way to go, other than being an unconstitutional tax on the right to obtain a firearm, of course :)

(Obligatory Disclaimer – I am not a lawyer, particularly not one who specializes in NJ firearms law. I’m just some guy on the internet who claims to have read the statutes once or twice).

For more resources see:

The NJSP Firearms FAQ

The NJSP links to NJ Firearms Laws and AG guidelines – that last includes the current “interpretation:” of the NJ AWB

The NJ2AS News and Resources page

The NJ2AS guide on purchasing a firearm in NJ – includes a link to their Operation Establish Compliance page

And, of course, the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, our NRA state org.

Targeting Businesses

Now we have some good evidence to show why more businesses caved and issued statements saying gun owners aren’t welcome to Shannon Watts after Bloomberg bought “merged with” her group.

It seems that not giving Shannon her press release telling lawful gun owners that they aren’t welcome means Bloomberg will spend at least six figures to attack your company.

Kroger is really pissing her off by not giving in to her political agenda. She hasn’t been successful at motivating a grassroots response, so now she’s opening Bloomberg’s wallet with billboard buys, as well as “print and digital full page ads and wraps in both the local Ohio press and national titles like USA Today.”

Gun Raffle

It’s past that time of year again! Our local Friends of NRA committee has a three gun raffle going on, and you have the chance to win since we have lots of tickets available.

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Tickets are $20, and we’re drawing three times, once for each gun. That’s a 1 in 67 chance to win one of these guns for each ticket – assuming we even sell out. (We have in the past, but raffle tickets aren’t the hot ticket item this year, oddly. It’s been our banquet tickets.)

If you’d like to purchase a ticket, email me (address on the upper right) ASAP and I’ll send you the details and where to send a check. If you’d like to pay by credit card, email me and let me know so I can make sure a trusted committee member can take your call to get the information. (I know. I wish we had online ordering, too. It’s not something I can fix beyond airing my complaint which I know goes in one ear and out of the other with our Field Rep rather than getting passed on to HQ.)

I will say that for each of the past two years we have promoted raffle tickets on the blog, readers have won. In fact, last year saw two blog reader winners. That doesn’t mean the same will happen this year, but I just say it to show that we really do give away the guns. :)

The fine print, so to speak: Winners will be responsible for picking up the guns from the local FFL or arranging transfer to their own FFL. Winners must pass appropriate background checks and will be responsible for any fees regarding the transfer.

All money raised goes to support the NRA Foundation programs – the shooting stuff, not the political stuff. So if you want to help us reach more junior shooters, train more women, or help out clubs that need some help with improvements for shooters, then take a chance and buy a ticket.

Judge Tries His Hand at Engineering

According to one retired judge in Alaska, developing a perfectly functioning “smart” gun is just as easy as adding simple seat belts to a car in the very early days of car safety developments.

Clearly, there’s not any unexpected circumstance where a non-functioning gun could actually end in innocent lives lost. Nope, not a single downside ever. Nope, never ever any unintended consequences, ever according to the judge.

Tax Free Weekends on Guns

Mississippi & Louisiana are about to kick off their tax-free weekends on guns, ammunition, and other sporting equipment.

Some groups have found that these sales tax holidays (on all items, not just “hunting” themed days) don’t actually stimulate extra purchases, they just inspire informed shoppers to shift the date they plan to purchase items they would already purchase. (Apple set up a website to guide their shoppers on when they can take advantage of the breaks in their states.) In fact, that 2013 report notes some interesting facts about some of the gun-themed sales tax holidays. In Louisiana, their sales tax holiday for hurricane supplies is capped at purchases of $1,500, but their holiday for guns & ammo isn’t capped at all. Based on the state official guide, it seems like Mississippi’s holiday is also unlimited, whereas their sales tax holiday on clothing is capped at $100. (The guide also provides a detailed list of what is included and what is not included.) South Carolina’s sales tax holiday on just guns (not ammo) that falls the Friday & Saturday after Thanksgiving isn’t listed in the report, but I didn’t find any reference to a cap online, and their other sales tax holidays aren’t capped, either.

Sales tax holidays on guns and ammo are something I kind of feel “eh” about in the big scheme of things. It doesn’t radically change anything on the freedom scale for either fiscal change or gun rights. In fact, there’s quite a bit of truth in the summary from the report linked above that notes if your sales tax situation is so terrible in your state that you need to offer citizens a holiday from it, the entire sales tax system should be revisited. On the other hand, if all of these other special interests get a tax holiday, why not guns, too?

Re-introduction

I’m Ian Argent, a long-time commenter and occasional contributor. I used to blog at my own place (The Lair), but that basically petered out late last year due to a confluence of events in my life. The itch to blog, however, never really went away, though; so when I saw that Sebastian was having to spend more time on the job and less on blogging, I offered to add a little content here, and he accepted. Of course, I meant to have a few more posts in the hopper before I went incommunicado last week, but I wasn’t happy with anything but the Management ones, and the second post was incomplete until tonight.

Anyway, as it says on my Blogger profile:

I was born below the Mason-Dixon line and lived in various exotic locales, being raised by globe-trotting, gun-owning hippies on an literary diet mostly composed of Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, WWII history books, and NOW propaganda. I’ll leave y’all to guess which had the most influence on me… I’m now an armed and conservative resident of The Great Garden State of New Jersey, and can be found arguing for the fun of it on message boards and comment sections across the internet.

The management is responsible

I regret that I was not able to fully participate in the discussion that my last post engendered; but a family vacation out of country intervened. But I’m back now, so I can address a couple of points that came up.

First, of course, I don’t believe that the usual business owner should discriminate against the usual firearms bearer, either as a visitor or employee (except as far as dress code; don’t open carry a white rifle after labor day, don’t open carry at people, &c); at least not as a matter of course. There are circumstances where certain specific areas of a business might be off-limits to carriage of firearms; you don’t necessarily want to allow large chunks of ferrous metal into the MRI room, or non-instrinically-safe items into a place with a volatile atmosphere, for example. Not to mention tightly-secured aras such as prisons, mental hostpitals, or certain areas of courthouses. However, I am also somewhat leery of using the blunt force of law to enforce this societal norm against private property owners. In this case, while I’m not unaware of the civil rights aspect, it’s not a free-for-all, either. Regardless of your right to free speech, a private property owner may ask you to leave if you exercise it in certain ways, for example; or if you are an employee your free speech rights may be quite sharply curtailed while on the property or on the clock.

However, I chose the title of the last post and this one to highlight that my suggestion is to change the “default” assumptions. Today, the “no guns” sign functions against lawyers as a bunch of garlic does against vampires; as a mythical ward against their depredations. The suit in Colorado aims to change this assumption, but not particularly in a way that the supporters of the RKBA should be happy about; the plaintiffs claim that the theater chain should have had more security, not that they should not have posted, and that the theater should be on the hook for compensating the victims and families.

In a better legal regime, the property owner might be excepted to take basic and minimal security precautions, such as ensuring any exterior lighting is in proper order, just as they should ensure that the parking lot does not have any sinkholes, &c. When it comes to controlling access to the property by possessors of weapons, thought, they can have a choice. On the one hand, that if a property owner does not prohibit firearms to the people who are inclined to observe such a restriction, they should be immunized (a la the Protection of Commerce in Lawful Firearms acts immunization of retails and manufacturers of firearms, as a very off-the-cuff suggestion). But, on the other hand, that if the property owner does post, they should be required by law and custom to make a serious effort to ensure that all visitors are protected. IE, that a secure perimeter be established, at the boundaries the visitors be given the opportunity to safely and securely disarm and stow their weapons and later safely and securely recover and rearm, and that the property owner be potentially liable in civil (and if appropriate, criminal) court for malicious acts perpetrated against visitors (and employees), not to mention the secured weapons.

This is something that could and should be codified in law, that if a business owner wishes to declare part or all of their property a “weapons-free” zone, they must make a sincere and thorough effort to ensure that it remains as such. In theory, I suppose the courts could force the issue, but in practice I don’t think they will, at least not in a manner we would recognize as supportive of the general RKBA.