Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 572 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

Shopping for the Gunnies on Your List

The Outdoor Wire ran a holiday gift ideas list for outdoor enthusiasts last week, and it featured at least a couple of items for gun nuts. Two mentions are guns – both Smith & Wessons at that. Their first mention is the M&P22 pistol because you really can’t go wrong with a .22 to shoot cheaply all day long. The next recommendation is the M&P15 Sport.

Regardless, neither one of these is easy to pick up for the family member of said gun nut. On that front, his only other recommendation is the EoTech XPS3 Holographic Weapon Sight. The Outdoor Wire cites the battery life as a big plus to this sight. The only review on Amazon is low, but that’s because the guy got a defective one that was promptly replaced with a perfect one.

Perhaps the most amusing thing I find on his list would also work for a gunnie out at the range on a cold morning. A Coleman Portable Propane Coffeemaker. I can’t tell you why I find this so amusing, but I do. I think it speaks to the fact that I am not a hardcore coffee person, so I can’t imagine being in such dire need to own this. However, from the way I have seen some coffee addicts search out their next cup of java, I could totally see a market for it – complete with twitching hands trying to replace the propane cylinders when they realize it emptied just before making their next batch of brew.

You’re Not in Kansas Anymore, Dorothy

You know you’ve left the Northeast when you look at the Black Friday ads and find several listings for gun sales.

No, we won’t be heading out to purchase a gun. However, we will be checking out the local gun shop to see what their selection of pepper spray looks like since a family member could use it.

Obama Administration Backs Down Officially

Salazar has issued a statement, which can be found here, saying that shooting on BLM land won’t be interfered with. They unofficially backed down earlier, but this makes it official.

Telescope Blogging

Clayton is offering advice on telescopes for Christmas. This is kind of timely, because after our star tour to the top of Mauna Kea last year, I’ve been thinking I should get one. But it’s a daunting topic. Reflector or refractor? And which kind? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Do I want one that would be easy to schlep to Hawaii? I’d definitely need one that would be easy to transport, because there’s not a whole lot that be seen sandwiched here between Philadelphia and New York.

I’ve also thought that astrophotography would be pretty cool, but I’m guessing pretty expensive as well.

Sometimes You Really Have to Wonder …

… if the other side really is on the side of the criminal. I think it’s at least true that they have a deep and abiding hatred of gun owners who stand up for their rights, and refuse to be complicit in the disarmament of others.

Natural Selection

SayUncle notes that The City (his The City) has been having Coyote problems, and that shooting them should be an acceptable solution. I’ve never understood why this is considered unacceptable by the modern PC establishment, but then again, I’ve never really viewed humans to be apart from nature. We are the apex predator on this planet, and I don’t think that ought to be denied.

In nature, predators don’t usually tolerate the presence of other predators, so they all learn to stay out of each others way. This is a basic survival mechanism, since animals that learn to tolerate the presence of things that would like to eat it, or their young, typically aren’t going to last long. Nature just won’t select for those traits.

It’s not surprising then, that when humans start tolerating the presence of other predators, or even encouraging it, those predators will tend to lose their natural fear over time, and spread those fearless genes onto their offspring. Pretty soon you can’t leave rover out, or leave the kids out to play, without having to worry. When predators who tolerate the presence of humans are shot, they are removed from the gene pool. Nature selects only for predators that fear humans as a fellow predator, and steer clear. When you’re dealing with an animal like a Coyote, which is not endangered and adapts very well to new environments, it’s difficult for me to see why this is an issue for anyone. The Coyote is very fit for survival. Sometimes I wonder whether we are.

Not Going to Join the Condemnation of UC Police

Lots of controversy over the use of pepper spray on protesters, including controversy that led to the UC Davis Police Officers, seen in this incident here, being suspended for what looks to be fairly standard police use of spray:

I’m not going to jump on this particular condemnation bandwagon. If you have a bunch of people blocking access to a public resource, or occupying private property, who refuse to move, the use of force by the police to get them to move is both legally and morally justified. In that situation you have two choices, you can either remove them by forcibly removing them through physical force, which is statistically much more likely to cause lasting injuries, or to use pain compliance.

Pepper spray is highly irritating, but once decontaminated, there are not really lasting effects. It is a compliance tool. If you had a bunch of people blocking access to your house, would you not use force to remove them? In this case the protesters knew what was going to happen if they didn’t move, and volunteered to pay the price.

Better Than Nothing

Joe Huffman notes a case of a kid who fended up an attacker with a BB gun. Hey, if it works for Clark W. Griswold and little Ralphie, why not?

SAF/Calguns Suit Against California Assault Weapons Ban

It’s interesting to see SAF and CalGuns Foundation announcing they are going after the Assault Weapons Ban in California. While I’m wary of AWB suits in general, they have a unique angle. I’ve had this case in my tabs for a few weeks now, meaning to write something on it, but hadn’t taken the time to do the research. The case has an Iraq war veteran at the center of it, an individual who has repeatedly been unjustly arrested several times because California cops don’t know what an assault weapon is (which is understandable, considering no one else really does either). The case is also narrow, rather than being a kitchen sink of issues.

The argument, as best I can tell, is that the California AWB can’t survive constitutional scrutiny due to vagueness, and due to the fact that it’s interfering with the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right. The interesting thing about the vagueness angle, is that it’s already been tried before, and prevailed in a case in Ohio in the Sixth Circuit, and as best as I’ve found, none have outright failed either. These cases were pre-Heller, and I would think Heller should change the dynamic a good deal.

Given the Heller II case has upheld an Assault Weapons Ban as constitutional, at this point a circuit split is likely on the matter, which makes it likely the Supreme Court will take a case to resolve the split. This lawsuit looks interesting enough, and the plaintiffs well selected, that this would be something we’d want before the Court if they choose to resolve the conflict. They might be more open to a constitutional argument that includes a strong element of vagueness.

That said vagueness challenges are tough to win, though this area of gun control seems particularly ripe for it. When you regulate by cosmetics rather than function, it necessarily is going to include a large degree of vagueness. This centers around things like prohibiting barrel shrouds, which even Carolyn McCarthy will tell you is a “shoulder thing that goes up,” or prohibiting flash suppressors, but not muzzle brakes, and how is law enforcement to know the difference? There’s also, in California, the issue of the bullet button, which has effectively neutered their assault weapons ban for all practical purposes. Essentially as long as it takes a tool (and a bullet has been determined to be a tool) to drop the magazine, it’s not considered “detachable,” and therefore none of the assault weapon characteristics apply. The problem is that police in California haven’t been well trained to know the difference.

What Drugs Are They Taking at the Brady Campaign?

I’m not even really sure what to make of this, but the outright bizarreness emanating from the Brady Center these days continues:

Umm, in 1963, Jack Kennedy was President, and given the choice, I’m pretty sure he’d rather have had the White House randomly sprayed by gunfire from a whack job with an SKS while he wasn’t home, than having his brains blown out in Dallas by a Castro-sympathizing sniper from a sixth floor window using a scoped Italian bolt action rifle.

And you have even more ridiculous nonsense from our opponents about the gun shooting two footballs fields! You’d think no one ever killed anyone before Simonov and Kalashnikov came along. Just be happy Hollywood movies have taught most random nuts to spray and pray. There was a time when they aimed. I worry more about the nut that aims, regardless of what type of firearm he has.