Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 201 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

Brian Anse Patrick on the NRA Annual Meeting

Brian Anse Patrick is the author of two books that I think are required reading for any Second Amendment activists, and that I think every new NRA employee should read as part of their orientation. Brian Anse Patrick was the speaker at the lunch portion of the law seminar, and I had the opportunity to speak with him at the reception. He seemed surprised when I mentioned I had read both of his books, and was a really nice guy. He’s working on a new book about the zombie phenomena.

Today, he released a post on his blog (which I didn’t know about before now) taking aim at Anna Marie Cox’s hit pieces in the Guardian just after the convention:

Noting another significant myth perpetuated by the column, NRA is not â€œthe gun lobby.â€ Among many other functions, too many to list here but which include safety training and civil rights legal defense issues, NRA does indeed lobby on behalf of gun owners. But the gun manufacturers have their own exclusive trade associations and lobbies. NRA represents the interests of a people, not an industry. Â These members pay the dues that support NRAâ€™s manifold operations; no shadowy corporations front the money. As such, NRA members assemble in voluntary association; they converse among themselves and with others by means of various print, broadcast and computer-based media; and they peaceably petition government entities.Â When the NRA does all this, organs such asÂ The GuardianÂ andÂ The New York TimesÂ call it â€œlobbying,â€ but more accurately, it should be described as a principled application of the First Amendment. Such â€œlobbyingâ€ is merely the First Amendment put into practice.

I would encourage folks to head over and read the whole thing.

Next Battles in the Restaurant Wars

Now that we’ve endured three losses at the hands of the rifle OC crowd, it does beg the question of what to do to mitigate the damage. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to get Texas to pass an open carry bill as soon as humanly possible, but I suspect that’s going to be a bigger uphill climb the longer this goes on. I also suspect it wouldn’t stop. If you take a look atÂ Open Carry Texas’ mission statement, you’ll notice affecting legislation is number three. Their primary goal is to “educate” Texans. So I think we’re stuck with this. I also don’t think we’re going to convince them to stop, so we can expect more losses. One thing I’d mention is that Watts seems to be pushing each company a little further. I believe this is meant to desensitize us to the losses, until she can eventually convince one company to actually ban guns on their premises, and then eventually to post. I’m fairly certain this is where it will lead. One one company crosses that Rubicon, others will follow. It’s a grim future.

Taking a look at Open Carry Texas’ busy schedule, we have the following Restaurants up who I’m nearly certain will be targeted by Shannon Watts:

Pizza Hut
Double Dave’s (Never heard of them before. We don’t have those up here.)
Sonic

I don’t believe Shannon Watts will jump on these until we’re closer to the planned event. She’ll want the pictures and the news footage to promote the campaign. Sonic is an Oklahoma-based business. They stand a good chance of standing up to Shannon Watts. But who knows? Open Carry Texas must be taking some heat, or they wouldn’t be trying to deny any responsibility. I’ll repeat, a tactic that accomplishes nearly nothing, yet motivates our opponents to action and causes us to lose ground in the culture is a bad tactic. The biggest asset we have, and the biggest problem they have, is that there’s a very wide enthusiasm gap on the gun issue. People who want gun control just don’t want it as bad as we want freedom. But OCT is helping close that gap. If you look at Moms Demand’s Facebook group, their posts on open carry draw a much higher level of engagement (measures by shares, likes and comments) than other non-OC topics. Whether you mean to or not, if you carry a rifle into a fast food joint, you’re not accomplishing anything except helping Shannon Watts succeed.

Fenway Gun Control Billboard to Find a New Home

So notes the Boston Globe:

The mega-billboard facing the Massachusetts Turnpike between Fenway Park and the Citgo sign has long been a landmark of grim tidings. On Monday, its updated digital counter read, â€œ45,864 Americans killed since the massacre at Sandy Hook.â€

It is the kind of stark message that has made the 252-foot-long billboard a graphic, look-at-me advertisement for stricter gun control. But after 19 years, its owner is searching for a new home.

Looks like the people who own the property are looking to do some kind of project that makes more money than a gun control billboard. Hopefully whatever new home it will find won’t be as good a location.

Hat Tip to Cam Edwards

Gun Control Activist Caught in Lie?

Bob Owens continues digging on the assertion of a pro-gun-control activist being spit upon by a pro-gun activists, and it looks more and more like it’s just a lie:

Progressives TodayÂ went one step further, noting that there wasÂ no footage of the Moms Demand protest shown at the airport.

I’d put my money on her being a liar. The whole thing has smelled of BS from the very beginning. I’d note if you follow the link to Bearing Arms, this is a progressive site reporting on this. Bob Owens notes:

It also remains to be seen if Longdonâ€™s apparent deception will be enough for Moms Demand Action/Everytown to dissociate themselves from her.

Fat chance. They are professional liars themselves. They have no concern for the truth if the media is willing to buy their lies hook, line and sinker.

Chipotle Caves

They pulled a Starbucks:

Chipotle is asking customers not to bring guns into its stores after it says gun rights advocates recently brought military-style assault rifles into one of its restaurants.

They’re not saying it’s a ban, which probably means it’s not. Either way, these are terrible cultural losses for us. How many of these are we going to have to endure before the rifle OCers start to understand they aren’t accomplishing anything except helping drive Shannon Watts’s fundraising, and helping her continue to build her organization?

UPDATE: Their release is here. Much more strongly worded than either Starbucks or Jack-in-the-Box. Personally I decided to stop going to Chipotle when they started putting anti-ag messages on their drink cups. I don’t need people preaching religious claptrap to me when I just want a burrito. That and the qualify of their food and service at our local location has headed downhill recently. I intend to comply with their request and take my business elsewhere. I strongly encourage other gun owners to do so as well.

Brady Center Sues to Implement NJ Smart Gun Law

ANJRPC is reporting:

This afternoon, the Brady Campaign and the Million Mom March (Mercer County Chapter) announced that they are filing a lawsuit to force the New Jersey Attorney General to formally report on the public availability of so-called “smart guns.”Â The lawsuit is intended to trigger New Jersey’s 2002 smart gun law, which could eventually outlaw the transfer of handguns that do not incorporate the technology.

Â “New Jersey’s smart-gun law is a dumb as it gets,” said ANJRPC Executive Director Scott Bach. “It forces you to use an unproven technology to defend your life, and then exempts the state from liability when the gun goes ‘click’ instead of ‘bang.’ If it’s such a great idea, then law enforcement shouldn’t be exempt, and the free market should be able to determine its viability.Â ANJRPC will spare no effort or expense to prevent this gun ban from going into effect.”

Â There will be a media frenzy covering this event.Â The first stories available online as this alert was prepared include the following:

NorthJersey.com

NBC40

yubanet.com

ANJRPC will provide additional details when they are available.

Just when you think it’s safe to start ignoring the Brady Campaign as irrelevant, something like this happens. But it does show why Armatix’s technology has to be killed with fire and the earth that bore it salted. Brady chose the more forthright path of just forcing the technology down our throats now, rather than repealing the law first, lulling us into a sense of security, and then reimposing it later.

More Evidence Mounting DOJ is Targeting Firearms Industry

Kelly Riddell with the Washington Times is adding up the evidence, and it’s becoming more and more apparently that indeed, Eric Holder’s DOJ is targeting the firearms industry by cutting off its access to financial services and the banking system:

â€œThis administration has very clearly told the banking industry which customers they feel represent â€˜reputational riskâ€™ to do business with,â€ said Peter Weinstock, a lawyer at Hunton & Williams LLP. â€œSo financial institutions are reacting to this extraordinary enforcement arsenal by being ultra-conservative in who they do business with: Any companies that engage in any margin of risk as defined by this administration are being dropped.â€

Read the whole thing. While we don’t have any direct evidence the industry is being targeted, it’s all adding up to something rotten at the DOJ. All this is ostensibly in the name of fighting fraud, but it’s just a little to convenient for the Administration, if you ask me.

Monday Gun News

I’m getting a bit worried that this could be all I have for today, but things often start out that way, and then something interesting comes along later. But there is news:

From Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court: government can’t fire employees for exercising their right to self-defense.

Miguel notes that the rifle OC folks can stop helping anytime they want. I’m betting Chipotle goes the way of Jack in the Box. If they are going to keep OCing ARs into Chipotle locations to “thank” them, Shannon Watts will be declaring victory by weeks end.

Bloomberg “We need the NRA to be afraid of us.”Â I’m afraid of the former Mayor’s money. He is a great villain.

WSJ: Poll Shows Why Gun Control Looks Impossible.

Wired: How 3D printed guns evolved into serious weapons in just a year. I think that’s overstated. A plastic gun isn’t really that practical. But the technology of 3D printing is advancing quickly.

This is The Onion, but it’s hard to tell these days.

Armed citizens can defend themselves, even in Nigeria. They captured a tank, according to the article.

Armed women, in…. Massachusetts?

Detroit’s top cop interviewed for NRA First Freedom.

John Richardson has an update from the Knife Rights folks about their case against the City of New York.

“It’s not your grandfather’s NRA,” seems to be meme being pushed by the antis in various media outlets. I mean seriously, who in the world doesn’t know the NRA is heavily involved in politics? We know. Everyone knows. That’s why NRA is powerful. That’s why we’re members.

Also from Joe: “Alan Gura may not be our savior.” I don’t think any one person is. Heller and McDonald were great victories, and we owe Alan Gura a debt of gratitude for winning them. But the foundation for those cases were laid by a number of people.

Why Carry When Hiking? Most people think the four legged critters. The two legged variety is more dangerous. If you’re hiking, you’re not getting law enforcement help except to recover the body. Getting robbed on the trail is very dangerous.

HSUS settles a racketeering suit with Ringling Bros. Circus for a cool 16 million. Unfortunately chump change for them.

Andrew Cuomo kills jobs in upstate New York.

I linked to the story about the gun control activist who allegedly was spit on by a pro-gun individual, and thought it smelled like bullshit. I’m glad I’m not the only one. Bob takes a very detailed look and calls shenanigans. It’s not that I don’t think there ugly people on our side, the circumstances are just very improbable to me.

You may have heard of the Heller II case in DC losing at district court. Prince Law Offices takes a detailed look.

It’s going to take more than 1.5 people on an e-mail list to defeat us in November.

Is Armatix the Enemy?

Bob Owens takes a look at WaPo op-ed by the managing director of Armatix, GmbH. I’m a bit more reluctant to label Armatix as the enemy. As long as they aren’t busy lobbying to mandate their technology, and are willing to compete in the marketplace with other firearms, nothing they are doing is inherently wrong. I would never recommend their firearm to someone for anything, because I think it’s a bad idea, but that’s part of competing and succeeding in a free market.

Unfortunately for Armatix, the political landscape in the US is the problem. Even if they are on the up-and-up, and want to compete in a free market, there are political forces out there that view the smart gun technology as a path to enact wide-sweeping gun bans, such as already been passed in the State of New Jersey. Even if New Jersey repeals their law, which it seems may happen, that’s not going to fix the problem, because the cards have already been put on the table. We know what the gun control movementÂ plan to do. I don’t oppose the Armatix pistol coming to the United States because I don’t like it, or don’t like Armatix. In a world where gun control was not a serious political threat, I would be happy to see it come. I believe it will fail in the free market, but I’d be willing to give it a chance. I oppose the Armatix pistol coming to market because our opponents in the gun control movement plan to use the technology to deny us our freedom to choose. Unfortunately for Armatix, there’s nothing they can do to change that.

Moms Demand Pressures Chipotle Mexican Grill

After some open carry protesters in Texas organized an open carry walk in Victory Park, near American Airlines Stadium in Dallas, Moms Demand took notice. From the organizers of the walk:

For those who want to eat after the walk, there is a Chipotle and an Italian place just down the road that are fine with Open Carry.

Accompanied by a picture, Shannon Watts immediately zeroed in to ChipotleÂ with the hash tag #BurritosNotBullets, and began bullying the company into following in the steps of Jack in the Box and Starbucks, presumably meaning, “Please make some vague statement about guns being icky, and not wanting them in your stores, so we can declare victory.”

But, to their credit, Chipotle isn’t budging so far. I say so farÂ becauseÂ the rifle OCers are doing their level best offer Shannon Watts another victory. This is exactly how OC activists “gave thanks” to Starbucks, and burned us. It wasn’t just in their stores, but all over social media as well. These companies don’t want their brands associated with open carry, gun rights, anti-gun hysteria, or gun control. Chipotle just wants to sell burritos and not be inserted into a contentious debate, just like Jack-in-the-Box wanted to sell burgers, and just like Starbucks just wanted to sell coffee. The problem is, many on “our side” don’t leave well enough alone, and keep taking actions that ignorantly draw the company further into a debate they want no part of.

Bitter and I went today and were sure to float a tweet that corporate would notice. I wore an NRA polo with a nice pair of khakis, but not AR-15. My pistol was concealed. The way to show Chipotle appreciation is to spend money there, and quietly let corporate know you did and why. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sending them a tweet or two either (given that Chipotle markets organic, local food, to the kind of people who like that sort of thing, I couldn’t resist this tweet). But that’s going to be about the extent of our activism on this. I think we need to be very wary of attaching their brand to our cause.

Any reasonably high-profile company is well-acquainted with astroturf activist groups like Watts’s. That’s why they usually have the right instincts out of the gate in terms of telling them to get lost. Let us hope that Chipotle continues to stay out of the debate, but if they are to succeed in doing that, we have to let them out. If we show our “appreciation” by taking ARs and shotguns into their establishments, I think they will likely cave into Moms Demand, not because they really want to, but because they just want their branding nightmare to end.