The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
The House Speaker has announced there will, in fact, be a voting session before the end of this legislative term. This offers us an opportunity to get Castle Doctrine passed. Please, please, contact your state rep, contact the leadership in the House, and tell them you want this done. See here for contact info.
We are down, but perhaps not out.
Activists are looking at five states for legalizing open carry this next coming legislative session. I may not agree with the wisdom of open carrying in all situations, but it ought to be an option for people, and certainly not illegal. It may surprise some, but I have OC’d on a few occasions while hiking, and also at the NRA convention one year.
I’ve generally been pretty hostile to its use as an activism method, in the belief that it had the potential to cause a serious backlash, but to date we’ve demonstrated the Brady’s can’t raise money on the issue, and even in California, they couldn’t pass an outright ban. I’m not going to become an advocate, but I will at least accept that, based on current evidence, it’s not creating any kind of backlash, or giving our enemies anything they can really use against us.
I was floored listening to NRA News the other night to learn some more details of the PA Department of Homeland Security, which was called out a few months ago for issuing an alert about the annual Second Amendment rally in Harrisburg. Now more details are coming out as to exactly what these people are up to. Have a listen:
Here’s a link to the story which talks about PA Homeland security spying on old quaker ladies. I’m not going to go so far as to say monitoring Twitter, a public forum, is “big brother” tactics, but is sure as hell seems like a total waste of my tax dollars. Now this, on the other hand, is big brother tactics. Remember that these are the same people who have been telling us that gun owners are a dangerous lot.
So Sumguy is driving down I-95 in Virginia and gets into an altercation with Sumdude who cut him off. Sumdude throws a container of yogurt at Sumguys’s car. Sumguy brandishes a firearm to ward off the yogurt wielding madman. Take a guess who’s getting charged with the felony and who’s getting charged with the misdemeanor. The answer might be surprising.
This time the Mayor of White Plains, for domestic abuse. Very glad we have an organization dedicated to fighting the scourge of illegal mayors.
This shows the difference between how gun people think versus how other people think better than anything I’ve seen in a long while. The article is in the local paper for Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about a recent shootout in one of their bad neighborhoods. One resident:
And how do you suppose we “take a stand”? They have guns!! We are supposed to depend on law enforcement for protection but there are just too many kids, punks, drug dealing slime balls in this town for them to keep up. My kids know if they hear a gunshot to get to the floor and then crawl to the middle of the house. Unfortunately I can’t move right now and that is the reality of a lot of people in this town. Until they get the drugs off the streets in this town the guns will stay out there and I for one can’t stand up to a gun.
To which I was thinking “So get yourself a gun, and start calling the cops on the drug dealers and gangs. If the cops won’t do anything start a community patrol to kick them off the corners.” Someone else commented:
You Pottstown people need to come out of your submissive shells, and turn the lights on , on these cockroaches. So what if they have guns. Outsmart them, arm yourselves, learn how to shoot. The more of these dirtballs that take a bullet in the skull by Joe citizen protecting himself, they will take the hint and vanish.
That’s a key difference. They want the government to fix the problem, and we value individual initiative.
Looks like an ICBM to me. Best case it was a secret launch. Worst case it’s a Chinese missile designed to show us that they can hit us by surprise if they want to. Obviously it would have had to have been aimed away from the US so it would be apparent quite quickly it’s not an attack. Normally we wouldn’t do that kind of launch without informing the Russians, lest they get a little restless with their finger on the button. Scientists are saying it’s just a jetliner with a contrail, but that doesn’t compute if you look at the video. The trail wiggles like you’d expect a missile to, and jets normally don’t have glowing balls of fire coming out of their tails.
UPDATE: Someone on MSNBC is saying perhaps it’s an LDRS.
Looks like we’re talking about trolls on the blogsphere today. Does talking about trolls count as feeding them? I’m not sure. It’s been amazing to me the amount of time people will spend battling off the troll, when passing over the bridge quickly is probably the most prudent course of action. The troll revels in conflict. It is his purpose.
Megan McArdle notes on gold fever:
I’m going to dispute the notion that gold is a good hedge against the apocalypse. Â In the event that the US economy melts down so far that buying gold was a good alternative to holding US dollars, then buying canned goods, ammunition, and medical supplies was an even better alternative to gold. Â The only scenario I can think of in which it makes sense to stockpile a lot of gold is one where you and your household goods are unexpectedly teleported into the sixteenth century. Â If you worry a lot about this, then by all means, stockpile gold. Â But you should also probably take the precaution of stockpiling antibiotics and how-to books on dentistry.
I currently have no gold holdings, largely because I’ve been worried about it being a bubble. Of course, I’ve been thinking that since 2005, which had I invested all my money in gold then, I would have doubled it. But I’m wary of buying at the top of a bubble. I would never have the courage to hold gold long term.
I’ve never understood the libertarian fascination with the gold standard. Currently our currency is worth money because the government says it is. Libertarians have long wanted money backed up by gold. But what backs up gold? It’s never seemed to be a good idea to have your money supply dependent on something you have to mine from the ground.
Gold may be a good hedge against inflation, perhaps, but my inclination will be to pump my current cash reserves into the primary asset that is my house if inflation takes off. I need a new kitchen, a new shower, a good bit of exterior work, new driveway, and a once over of the yard by a  decent landscaper.
As for preparing for total meltdown? Well, I think I have enough guns and ammunition available for barter to take care of myself pretty well.
All from John Richardson:Â Gura is calling out the delaying tactics of New York State in the gun permit case. A federal judge sides with SAF in this one. Gura has also filed a Motion for Summary Judgement in the North Carolina case.