Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 775 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

At What Point Do You Just Walk Away?

I know I asked this just a couple of weeks ago, but why on earth is Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato even trying at this point? It really just makes him look a little more pathetic that he’s trying so hard and actually slipping in the polls. Two polls released late last night & today put him down 14 and 15 points, respectively. The money race hasn’t changed much, either. Corbett is outraising & outspending him, and still has more left in the bank.

If we didn’t have to worry about how tight the Senate race between Toomey & Sestak has been lately, then it would just be comedy gold. Unfortunately, we gun owners can’t take any votes for granted this year. And, as much as I’m gloating about Onorato’s failing campaign, there’s still nearly a week left, and voters are fickle and pissy this year. There are still too many races around Pennsylvania and the rest of the country that are too close to call.

Of course, I would argue that Corbett’s campaign could still use some help. There’s a good chance that these double digit leads won’t stay that large until Election Day. But, because Onorato has embraced a strategy of pushing gun control as a key component of his campaign, we need his campaign to fail miserably. We need him to lose and lose big. We need to remind Ed Rendell & his buddie in Philadelphia that we still outvote them, and gun control still pisses us off.

New Research into Gun Control

Dave Hardy shares some of his research findings on the history of gun control in the United States. It’s very interesting. We’re glad to hear he’s recovering from his snake bite, and sincerely hope all his future dealings with this phenomena involve liquor and tabasco.

UPDATE: More here.

Renaming Rhode Island

Apparently renaming a state is on the ballot this November. See, the official state name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. They want to drop the Providence Plantations part, since plantations is a code word for slavery, or something, even though Rhode Island never really participated in that kind of slavery.

Hat Tip to Cam Edwards.

Political Violence

Much hay is being made of this incident at a Rand Paul rally:

It’s temping in political discourse to think your side is better than the other, but it’s self delusion. I don’t care if your issue is saving puppies, I’d estimate at least 5 to 15% of your fellow activists are complete assholes. So save me the lefty moral outrage. Personally, I don’t think either the stompers or stompee in this case can claim to be without wrong doing in this particular incident, though only one side bears any legal wrong.

So I do condemn the men who unlawfully restrained and stomped the MoveOn employee, but I also condemn the immature actions of the MoveOn employee that stoked this fire.Â The Other McCain in his analysis of what’s going on:

When I wasÂ covering the big rally in Searchlight, Nevada, I remember Sarah Palin being hustled through a phalanx of security without time to say â€œhelloâ€ or shake hands with her supporters. Even with a press pass dangling around my neck onÂ a lanyard, I was careful not toÂ make any moveÂ that Palinâ€™s security might interpret as potentially threatening.

Now imagine ifÂ some crazy woman at SearchlightÂ had come shoving through the crowd wearing a blonde wig and carrying a sign mocking Palin.

You see what Iâ€™m talking about? Iâ€™m not advocating, endorsing or defending the stomping of heads. Iâ€™m just saying that this mob scene in Lexington was exactly the sort of situation whereÂ these kinds of incidents happen. Itâ€™s unfortunate and wrong, but it is ridiculously misleadingÂ to politicize this incident as if it were somehow typical of those â€œcrazy right-wingers,â€ which is what Boehlert, et al., are attempting to do.

That’s why I can’t totally forgive her actions even as I condemn what the two individuals did to her. There were police present in the video if you look closely. One of the stompers is chastising police for refusing to do anything about the woman, but what were they going to do? It’s not illegal to wear a wig in public with a sign. They couldn’t have done anything until she did something illegal, and that something has to be more than approaching the candidate through the crowd, which last I checked was legal. If she had a weapon in her hand, this would have been completely different, but she had a sign. She actually would have been completely justified in using force against the people attempting to unlawfully restrain her.

Bloomberg’s Proposed Rules

If he thinks this is going to avoid a lawsuit, he’s delirious. Under the proposed rules you can literally be denied a constitutional right for being a bad driver or getting fired from your job. These people have a very strange conception of fundamental constitutional rights.

CeaseFirePA Attacking Corbett

So implies CeaseFire PA, who I can’t imagine has the cash to actually air this video:

Ryan Hacke was killed in 1997, four years before Pennsylvania entered into a reciprocity agreement with the State of Florida, under a different Attorney General than Tom Corbett. His death was certainly a tragedy, but it has exactly nothing to do with the issue being touted.

What you never hear about is Vaughn Mathis, the criminal that murdered Ryan Hacke. We give kudos to Allegheny County for actually prosecuting criminals, which is more than you can say for Philadelphia, but in 1993 Mathis plead guilty carrying without a license and having a firearm with an altered serial number, a first degree misdemeanor and second degree felony respectively. He received probation, though at this point it was illegal for him to purchase or possess a firearm, or get a license to carry in PA or Florida.

It’s worth noting that if he had gotten the maximum allowed under law for the initial weapons charge, he never would have been on the streets to murder Ryan Hecke. But it doesn’t stop there. Mathis was out on bail awaiting trial for rape charges, terroristic threats, and aggravated assault when he committed the murder. The crimes he was out on bail for were committed in 1995, and two years later the state had not yet gotten around to trying him. He was only tried on that arrest after the Hecke murder.

In all this talk of loopholes, guns, our opponents are forgetting about the piece of human debris that pulled the trigger, and the justice system that failed to keep him behind bars and off the streets.

Silly Season Weather Forecast

One thing we’re paying careful attention to is weather. Weather is one of those things that affect election turnout. When the weather is bad, it typically benefits the side on the motivated side of the enthusiasm gap. This year, that’s going to be the evil tea party sympathizers. We would absolutely love a giant cloud hanging out over the city of Philadelphia, pouring down rain there and nowhere else on election day. But that’s not very likely.

Still, I’m pleased that the forecast seems to be calling for rain in the Northeast. Granted, forecasts out this far aren’t much more scientific than a wild assed guess, but we’ll keep hoping.

McCarthy’s Troubles

Jacob has been following the continuing troubles of Carolyn McCarthy, and notes that NRA is hitting that district on behalf of Becker.Â The Democrats are having a difficult time even manning the firewall. John Richardson notes that McCarthy is running attack ads, which is something not typically done by candidates who are on top.

This is one election I’m going to be watching with anticipation on Tuesday night.

Thirdpower Asks the Question

What have you done:

While everyone has the right to express their opinion, what have you done to make your opinion actually worth something? Besides sending in your annual check I mean.

His point is well taken, in that in most pro-gun groups your membership fee isn’t doing much to help protect your rights, but I wouldn’t ding someone who has better things to do with their time, but makes up for it by writing checks to help the cause. In fact, for people who live in safe districts for gun rights, that might actually be the best use of your resources.

Since my luck in recruiting volunteers for campaigns here has been virtually non-existent, I’ve been thinking about other ways to influence candidates. One thing we tried this year was fundraising in small increments. I’m not sure we were any more successful at raising money than we have been at raising volunteers, but the idea, essentially, is to spread donations out among a lot of pro-gun candidates in the hopes they notice there’s a constituency willing to give money for the Second Amendment. My belief is that it’s probably better for 20 pro-gun candidates to get ten dollars and a note that says “Thanks for supporting the Second Amendment,” than it does for one candidate to get 200 dollars.

One reason we haven’t been able to get rid of Patrick Murphy is because of the amount of money this guy can pull in from outside the district. He is a fundraising machine. The left is far better at this game than the right, and infinitely better at it than libertarians. If you live in a safe district, consider a small donation to a pro-gun campaign in a district that’s not so safe. Most states have them somewhere, so you’d probably not be looking at a completely altruistic donation to a race that doesn’t remotely affect your own situation. Most state nd local activists worth their salt will be able to tell you which races they are concerned with in any given election.

NRA-PVF certainly donates to candidates, but they are a PAC, and PACs are limited by campaign finance rules in how much they can donate. Individual donations still matter.

Shooting Ourselves in the Foot

Robb warns us not to be “that guy.”