Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 244 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

Bizarre Carry Permit Situation in Beaver County

There are accusations that discounted or free licenses to carry are being granted to political friends and supporters of the Sheriff of Beaver County, and the story just gets weird from there.

From the various reports, it apparently started when a citizen sitting in a public area of the public office recorded a conversation between the Sheriff and a Constable that revealed he was undercharging for permits for selected people. The recording became public, and the Sheriff’s first response appears to have been to call the District Attorney and demand that there be an investigation for violation of the wiretap laws and leaking of confidential information rather than address the real problem of using licenses to carry in this manner and possibly shorting the county its share of fees.

It turns out that the DA found there was zero expectation of privacy between the individuals given their roles as public officials and where they had their conversation, and nothing confidential was leaked. So, the Sheriff now appears to claim that it was all above board because he was purposefully handing out the licenses in order to see if one of his secretaries who had recently filed a grievance against the office was leaking information. However, the person who benefited with the discounted license was apparently never informed prior to the event that he was part of such a plot and had to pay up later. Needless to say, there are people who doubt the after-the-fact claims of a secret investigation.

It appears the DA has turned the evidence related to the issuance of discounted licenses to carry over to state authorities, and a source tells the local paper that a grand jury has been called related to some sort of investigation into the Sheriff’s office.

They also report that the state Auditor General’s office found the Sheriff may not be charging the appropriate fees mandated by the state for carry licenses or writs of execution, which now means the County Controller is also investigating.

It’s very odd, indeed. Even if the licenses are being issued according to the law in regards to background checks, it is very troubling to hear that there are concerns that discounts and freebies are being used to benefit political supporters while those who aren’t so well-connected are forced to pay the higher, state-mandated price.

Comment Period for ATF 41P Coming to End

LotsÂ ofÂ goodÂ adviceÂ out thereÂ on how to comment against ATF 41P, which will change the way NFA trusts work and generally make it impossible for many people to get NFA items like suppressors. I feel bad that I haven’t been harping on this issue, but as loathe as I am to be fatalistic, I don’t think there’s any stopping this. I certainly would never discourage anyone from writing, but I wouldn’t feel too bad if you didn’t get around to it.

They put this out for public comment because the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requires them to do so. If an agency wants to change a regulation, Congress has prescribed a certain song and dance has to be gone through, including a public comment period. But they aren’t required to listen to any of it if they are intent on the change. The fix is in, in other words. The Administration intends to use this regulation change to punish us for thwarting his agenda. It’s one of those “elections have consequences” things.

And I’d note this will make it very difficult to ever get suppressors out from under the NFA, because it’ll mean fewer people have access to them, and with fewer people having access to them, there’s less of a constituency to drive political change. This will mean the first thing we probably need to drive for are either eliminating the LEO sign-off requirement through Congressional action, or passing more sign-off laws at the state level, like Tennessee has done.

Thursday News

Tabs are filling up toward the end of the week, so time for some news:

NY District Attorney indicts a homeless man because the NYPD can’t shoot straight. When you look at the stats, they really can’t hit anything at all. This is what happens when you destroy your civilian gun culture. You also destroy the ability of your police officers to shoot.

Joe reminds us that they once only cared about handguns. That was true until they realized they weren’t making any progress on that front. A lot of these groups changed their names not because they were trying to hide their agenda, but because they realized there was more traction to be had trying to ban scary looking rifles.

Commonwealth Court has cancelled oral arguments in the Erie case regarding preemption in Pennsylvania. They will decide the case as briefed. Josh Prince says there’s not too much that should be read into it.

An open letter to anti-gun politicians, activists, and citizens. I think we can get all those things without having to give anything up if we play our cards right, and are willing to be patient.

NSSF’s lawsuit against their new gun laws has been dismissed based on standing. Seems they violated procedure to pass the law, but NSSF doesn’t have standing to bring suit. Who does? Does anyone?

Women are the holy grail of the gun rights movement. Women are more likely to get involved in the political fight than men, and more women vote than men.

A random thought on arbitrary enforcement. Everyone commits, on average, at least three federal felonies a day. I think we’re already at the point where we’re all living free only by the good graces of the people who run things. That has to change, but people have to become aware first.

Enlisting Retired and Former Military

A lot of blogs have been talking about this article in Esquire that’s just full of fail. I don’t really have anything to say about people who ignorantly prattle on about Heller and the law when they clearly have actually read none of it. My only commentary is that there’s been a renewed push across the gun control spectrum to recruit military members to speak out against the rights of Americans, and betray their oaths. A few weeks ago it was Mark Kelly, and it’s also been Bloomberg as well. My guess is this is fruit of that effort.

UPDATE: More here.

Less Support from Urban Areas for Gun Control?

These polling results would seem to go against conventional wisdomÂ that support for gun control in urban areas is a fore drawn conclusion. They’ve been losing ground even there since Newtown:

“Demographically speaking, the drop in support for stricter gun laws is mostly based on where people live, with a 10-point decline in the Midwest and a 15-point drop in urban areas having a lot to do with the overall decline nationally,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.

“Two-thirds of people who live in big cities supported stricter gun control laws in the weeks following Newtown; now that figure is down to a bare majority. And while support for new gun laws is down in all regions of the country, it has fallen further in the Midwest,” Holland added.

The poll indicates that majorities in the Northeast and the West still favor stricter gun control, but majorities in the South and Midwest now oppose it.

That’s very interesting that support has fallen even for urban dwellers, but it’s also not surprising that urban dwellers are fluctuating more than non-urban dwellers, since most of them probably don’t have a dog in the fight from their point of view. It’s also interesting that the places with the most strict gun laws have the largest amount of people who want them to be more strict.

I attribute the majorities in the Northeast and West (let’s not mince words here, that’s California and the few other urban centers Californians have moved to and ruined) who still support gun control to be a result of those areas having largely succeeded in destroying civilian gun ownership, and destroying the gun culture. What makes people go back and forth is knowing people who shoot, talking to people who shoot, and generally having some exposure to the culture. That’s why I keep stressing the idea that we can’t just write off other states because it’s not our state. For approximately 1/3rd of America, population wise, we’ve lost. We can never regain it without the assistance of the federal courts. Once that number hits 1/2, and probably sooner, the game will be over for us.

The Answer is Easy: The Are the Enemy

Why the NFL chose to reject an ad from Daniel Defense while taking them from Bloomberg’s group of criminal mayors.Â They showed their true feelings when they banned guns from NFL games and started doing security screening like it was an airport. Screw those people. Not going to watch. Not going to go. They are already thieves for shaking down the public to get stadium funding on the taxpayer dime. Now they are actively working to undermine American freedom.

The ad rejected by the NFL is very well done, IMHO. It’s definitely not a hard sell:

Why is Crime in Iceland So Low?

I think they gave away the answer right here:

Police are unarmed, too. The only officers permitted to carry firearms are on a special force called the Viking Squad, and they are seldom called out.

When you name your armed police force “The Viking Squad,” I think it pretty much stands to reason you won’t have to call them out much.

Well, That Kind of Ruins the Narrative …

Breitbart: “Congressional Study: Murder Rate Nearly Halved from 1994 as Gun Ownership Soared” It’s almost like more guns != more crime. Not just nationally either. It’s almost like when ordinary people can more easily arm themselves, the criminals no longer feel they can rule the streets.

MAIG Pulls Gov’t Workers to the Private Sector

Now this is really funny. When a gun owner in the Sunshine State started using sunshine laws to get ahold of the communications between a public worker whose main job was actually to work for MAIG, Bloomberg pulled her into the private sector to work for him directly so those pesky taxpayers can’t see how he’s trying to force their government to do his bidding.

It seems that Floridaâ€™s public records laws were a little too much for NYC Mayor Bloombergâ€™s anti-gun Mayors Against ilLEGAL Guns to bear. At the end of her one year contract, the former Orlando city employee who actually worked for MAIG became a direct employee of MAIG.

Go check out All Nine Yards for more on the latest round of emails they turned up from the tax-funded Bloomberg employee. He seems to enjoy their hypocrisy on the amazing benefit of federal regulation when it comes to gun control, but their horror at the idea of federal interference when it comes to protecting Second Amendment rights.

The Problems of the GOP

Ace talks about how Mitch McConnell is looking for just a few, good, bland Republicans. Ace of Spades generally have good insights into the political process, so if you like that kind of thing they are worth a read. If I had to pick which major internal factors are causing the GOP’s woes, I’d put them in this order.

The DC-based consulting firms and think tanks that the GOP has come to rely on are more concerned about milking the movement for their livelihoods than they are about actually winning hearts and minds (and thus elections). They are also completely out of touch with the mood of the American People.

Conservatives pay too much attention to money changers in the temple; people who tell the grassroots soothing things they want to hear rather than preaching reality and helping grassroots conservatives be more effective. I’m not one who thinks talk radio is necessarily good for the conservative movement. I’m noticing more conspiratorial nonsense turning up locally, and it can almost be guaranteed once you look it up, it’s being spread by a talk radio personality. I don’t mean Alex Jones and the dark corners of talk radio, I mean people like Glenn Beck. Helping people “connect the dots” as he sees them might make Beck a lot of money, but it’s not doing any favors for the conservative movement. When local politicos see a bunch of people showing up at meetings yammering about “Agenda 21” and other UN conspiracy BS, those local politicos get scared, and rightfully so. Because to anyone who isn’t wrapped up in the world of the money changers, it sounds nuts.

Our movement just recruits some awful political talent. Part of that problem is that the angry grassroots have more outrage than experience, and have no idea what qualities you need in someone who can, say, win and hold a senate seat. That someone holds similar views to you, or even popular views, does not translate into electability. Sam Rohrer was the popular conservative heart throb in Pennsylvania for a while, but he was always a lousy fundraiser, and couldn’t really seem to get a statewide campaign going. I don’t care what your beliefs are, if you can’t raise money you’re toast.

I am no fan of the GOP status quo. If I didn’t think it would put McConnell’s seat at risk, I’d be enthusiastic about a primary challenge. McConnell loves feeding at the pork barrel, and I’ve had about enough of that. But what I’ve seen, again and again, are these grassroots primary challenges that essentially surrender the seat to the Democrats because the grassroots candidate was completely unelectable. Having a candidate that believes a lot of the same things you do won’t do a lick of good if you can’t get them elected.