Shall Not Be Questioned

A new survey shows everyone hates environmentalists and feminists, despite people having broad sympathies for the goals of both movements.

“Unfortunately,” they write, “the very nature of activism leads to negative stereotyping. By aggressively promoting change and advocating unconventional practices, activists become associated with hostile militancy and unconventionality or eccentricity.”

Hmm. What does that sound like?

So the message to advocates is clear: Avoid rhetoric or actions that reinforce the stereotype of the angry activist.

We really don’t want gun rights to fall victim to the same problem. That’s the primary reason I’m wary of activism methods that set us apart from normal, everyday Americans. That’s a big reason why I think this October 19th event promoted by GRAA is one of the worst ideas I’ve seen from our side in a long time. It’s very important to stick with activism that doesn’t seem odd, eccentric, or unusual to large parts of the population. More importantly, we’d like more people to get involved with pro-Second Amendment activism, not fewer, and fewer people is what you’ll get if your activism methods are socially awkward.

Gun Rights Save Lives looks at the Reagan legacy when it comes to guns. Things aren’t as rosey a lot of folks like to wax nostalgic about. But I disagree with the main source of angst here:

When he was president, he banned all new fully-automatic weapons from being sold to the public in 1986. Now they are nearly impossible for the average person to possess because they cost about $20,000.

The one thing I will disagree with is dinging Reagan over the 1986 machine gun ban. Remember that was attached at the last minute to the Firearms Owner’s Protection Act of 1986. I was 12 at the time this passed, and I had little political awareness when all of this went down. Everything I know from the time I’ve gotten from talking to the people involved with the fight at that time, and nearly everyone I’ve spoken with on the subject believes it was necessary to continue supporting FOPA despite what Bill Hughes did to it. The Gun Control Act, unmodified by FOPA, would have succeeded in destroying the shooting culture. I’d encourage everyone to read Dave Hardy’s account of the matter, who was intimately involved with getting FOPA passed into law. That Reagan signed FOPA I do not believe ought to be a ding against him.

Now it’s true that later in life, long after he was out of office, he ended up supporting the Brady Act and the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Members of his family today claim that was a result of his handlers signing him onto positions he himself never would have supported had he not been suffering Alzheimer’s. Whether this is true, or whether it’s just family trying to preserve his legacy, I don’t think is clear. I don’t think Reagan was the pro-gun saint everyone likes to remember him as, but I also think a lot of Reagan needs to be put into the context of the time.

Licensing has at least one upside, in that it offers a peek as to what gun ownership levels are really doing. The gun control groups have been consistently asserting that the Great Panic was entirely the result of a small handful of extremists stockpiling more guns. Well, the numbers coming out of Illinois would beg to differ:

Whereas a few years ago, 1.2 million Illinoisans held Firearm Owners Identification cards, the number has jumped to 1.6 million, state police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. Soon after the court decreed in December that Illinois couldn’t ban public carry anymore, demand for FOID cards jumped precipitously.

That throws a lot of cold water on their theory. I also suspect that the spike in numbers is a result of Chicago residents now being able to exercise their constitutional rights.  I’m not sure the article’s author gave much consideration to the fact that Chicago’s licensing regime was laid to waste by the new concealed carry law, making the FOID card the only barrier to entry for getting a handgun in the Windy City.

This isn’t as big as it should have been, but I lost all my tabs for the week, so I’ll have to do the best I can. The news cycle is still pretty dry, unfortunately, but hopefully that’ll change as the pace of fall picks up a bit.

Tarring and feathering might be a bit strong, but I agree with where the Vuurwapen Blog is coming from.

Anthony Bourdain, of Food Network fame, on guns.

IDPA shooters spotted in Kenya. The bravery of the police in Kenya has been impressive. It’s pretty obvious many of them were off duty, grabbed their guns, and ran toward the sound of gun fire, in plain clothes without body armor. That takes a lot of guts and my hat is off to them.

A majority of dealers support expanded background checks. Well, they stand to benefit financially if they were to be put in place. I’m sure car dealers would support a law that said car dealers were the only people permitted to buy and sell cars too.

Funny: Weird Math of the SAFE Act.

This gun saved a life in a rather unexpected way.

Man OCing pistol to a school soccer game cuts game short. I think this was an overreaction, but when you’re asked to leave, you leave. It was a private school, so they are within their right. But it does beg the question, who was “educated” here?

NPR takes a jab at Russia on the gun issue, noting fewer guns and more gun violence. Instapundit notes: “What does it take to get them to depart from the narrative? A jab at President Obama from a foreign leader.“