Shall Not Be Questioned

Say that an AR-15 really isn’t useful for anything. Sorry, when these are your creds:

I generally consider myself a Second Amendment supporter, and I haven’t yet decided where I stand on post-Newtown gun control. I would own a gun if New York City laws didn’t make it extremely difficult to do so. But I nevertheless find Keene’s arguments disingenuous. It’s odd to cite hunting and home defense as reasons to keep selling a rifle that’s not particularly well suited, and definitely not necessary, for either. Bolt-action rifles and shotguns can also be used for hunting and home defense. Unfortunately, those guns aren’t particularly lucrative for gunmakers. The lobby’s fervent defense of military-style semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 seems motivated primarily by a desire to protect the profits in the rapidly growing “modern sporting rifle” segment of the industry.

You don’t own a gun, yet you surely know what’s useful for self-defense and hunting? Have you ever hunted? Even shot an AR-15? Look, dude, you have about as much expertise to pontificate on this as I do on hookah bars in Manhattan. There are a lot of reasons the AR-15 as generally useful, all around firearm, which is why it’s the most popular selling rifle (even outside the current panic environment, where they are selling faster than they can be made). This article also reads like someone who has never had to deal with a breakdown in law and order, such as what follows in the aftermath of a major hurricane, which I’m sure some of my Florida readers who went through Hurricane Andrew can give you quite an education on.

Massachusetts just swore in their new legislature, and it’s vowing to take up gun control. You’d think there wouldn’t be much more they can do in Massachusetts, since they’ve long had an assault weapons ban and magazine restrictions, but as we’ve seen from Illinois, the end game is prohibition on as many classes of firearms they can get away with.

Not unexpected, Connecticut is talking gun control for 2013 too. The first wave of attacks will come in the blue states that already have pretty awful gun laws, and have largely already beaten gun owners into the dirt and made them politically irrelevant. It should be noted that these states previously formed the basis for federal legislation. There is no writing off this state or that state. We fight the best we can. Take this example from someone in Illinois:

I live in Illinois and am getting ready to go to Springfield for the next day or two to see what I can do. My legislators are both on our side but I intend to visit the office of every legislator and let them know personally how opposed I am to this. If you learn of any rallies that may develop in Springfield or know of any way I can help in Springfield, let me know…

This is highly effective, and to anyone reading in Illinois, if you can take the time off work and drive to Springfield, do it. Showing up in person and chatting personally with lawmakers is the most effective form of communication. We’ve already made a lot of compromises in Illinois. There’s full licensing of gun owners. In many ways they are a gun control paradise. They are ranked ninth in the nation by the Brady Campaign. Yet it’s not enough. Massachusetts, which has strict and discretionary licensing to own pistols, and a general assault weapons and magazine bans, apparently has not gone far enough. We know the end game, and anyone who says the end game isn’t prohibition is fooling themselves, and I would not count on the courts to save us.

From a Marine.

This is fucking serious folks. This is moving fast. For those people saying this can’t be for real, it’s for fucking real. This is on the verge of passing the Senate. Illinois is on the verge of being the worst state in the nation to be a gun owner. We must bury them under an avalanche of phone calls, letters, and if necessary, make them swim in a sea of yellow. We can turn out those numbers. If this happens there, this play will be repeated elsewhere. None of us are safe.

UPDATE: More here:

MESSAGE FROM COMMITTEE DEMOCRATS:  “Eliminating law-abiding gun owners is a good ‘first step’ towards a ‘civil society.’”

Included at the link is good and proper action to take, and yes, sometimes it helps tremendously to THANK lawmakers who stay with us. Positive reinforcement.

This is very serious. We are at DEFCON 1 in Illinois, folks.

UPDATE: From a comment in another post:

There will be a floor vote on these issues as early as tomorrow.  HB1263 (assault weapons ban) and HB 815 (magazine ban) have been passed out of committee and will be brought to the floor for a general vote by tomorrow morning.  As written, the ban will outlaw not only most rifles and shotguns used for hunting and sporting purposes, but also most handguns used for home and self defense.  There is very little time to contact your legislators and express your outrage at this blatant gun grab.

This is truth. Act now.

Follow through to John Richardson, who links to many of the bills and amendments.

Contacts I have in the Land of Lincoln indicate the attack from the anti-gun folks is far broader than initially indicated.

• There is a shooting range bill that would essentially shut down most recreational shooting in the state, and bring the remainder under strict regulation.
• There is a magazine ban. The grandfathering is practically non-existent for existing magazines. Transfer is not possible except to an heir or out of state. Magazines must be registered to be legal.
• There is a lost & stolen requirement for magazines. Do you know where all your magazines are? I don’t. I haven’t even counted. Why? Because it’s a box with a spring.
• The assault weapons ban is charitably worse than Feinstein’s. Basically if it’s not grandpa’s deer rifle, it’s pretty much illegal. It will outlaw just about all popular semi-automatic firearms. What about .50BMG? Can’t have those either. Grandfathering is as non-existent as it is for magazines. Registration is required for them to be legal, only transferrable to heirs or out of state.
• The anti-gun folks in Illinois also seem to believe the only legitimate sport shooting is Olympic shooting. The rest of us who do other shooting sports, sanction by NRA, USPSA, or IDPA can get bent, apparently.

So if you’re in Illinois, get calling. Get your friend to call too. Know an old guy that has an M1 Carbine or two he thinks are safe? Get him involved too, because the M1 could be affected. We have to stop them here. It was inevitable that the Chicago machine would lash out after losing so badly in Court, but we have to stop them here. Illinois gun owners are now at the front line of the first battle in what’s going to be an awful, multi-year war.

The goal here is to throw everything at us, wear us down, and keep wearing us down until we capitulate; until people are so tired of calling and writing, that we stop doing it. Are we going to let them do that to us? We have to stop each and every one of these.