Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 84 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

Bad Idea of the Day: Fighting Back with the Ballot in California

I get that California gun owners are in desperate straits, so I don’t really blame them for desperate measures, but this is a desperate measureÂ that’s practically guaranteed to failÂ and backfire. NRA is smart for not getting involved. There’s always a tendency among people active in politics to assume their positions are more popular than they really are. The reality is that most of the voting public doesn’t know bunk about your pet issue, taxation, deficits, etc. Most of the public thinks most of the federal budget goes to foreign aid. They point out that California beat the handgun freeze proposal in 1982, and that is true, but the demographics of California have changed greatly since 1982. Take a good hard look at those numbers. They do not add up to this being winnable.

At this time the NRA and other gun groups are not on board.Â Giving them the benefit of doubt, I believe the reason for their lackÂ of involvement at this time has to do with the fact that they haveÂ played â€˜defenseâ€™ and what we are doing here is â€˜offenseâ€™.

No, the reason NRA is not on board is likely because ballot fights cost a ton of money, the victory almost always goes to the side that spends the most money, and we cannot outspend Bloomberg, Silicon Valley oligarchs, and all the other lefty groups in California that are guaranteed to pour money into defeating us.

I hate to say it, because it pains me to say it, but California is lost if we can’t save it through the courts or federal preemption. Given that the GOP is a hot dumpster fire right now full of unserious and stupid “elites” and an unserious and naive base, both are looking pretty unlikely. In the past I’ve been reluctant to tell people to move out of their states, rather than stay and fight, but at this point that’s what we’re looking at. It’s time to move out of California if you live there and are a gun owner. The only thing this ballot measure is likely to accomplish is giving Bloomberg another head on his pike, and that’s going to help carry California’s bullshit to other states, not prevent it.

Olympic Shooting Snub

USA Shooting has been pitching the story of Kim Rhode to mainstream media because she’s broken some pretty unique Olympic records during her years of competing. She’s the only American to win individual medals in five straight Olympics – only American at all, not just the only American shooter. Her presence in Rio also makes her the only American Olympian to compete on 5 continents. Beyond American records, she is the only woman to win three Olympic golds in shooting.

In addition to holding records, she’s overcome challenges that many Olympians would find it hard to overcome – like having her specialized sport discontinued and being forced to take up a new one. Her prized equipment was stolen at one point. Yet she makes news for keeping such an upbeat attitude about her sport and life’s many challenges.

With these kinds of records, this news story from May highlighted that the US Olympic team members have never recognized Kim Rhode with the honor of carrying the American flag during opening or closing ceremonies.

Instead, news came today that US swimmer Michael Phelps will carry the flag. He was chosen because he has won multiple medals in various swimming sports that are largely just swimming different distances in the same discipline. Oh, and the other headlines he has generated for the US Olympic team include an underage DUI arrest to which he pled guilty and being photographed with drug paraphernalia. And then there’s the second DUI arrest since he apparently didn’t learn the first time. As this article notes, after every single medal-winning games Phelps has competed in, he follows up with headline-making illegal activities.

Sure, let’s choose that guy because he holds an Olympic record to represent the United States in the ceremonies.

That said, I’m going to try and watch the Olympic shooting events if I can figure out how to stream it. (I think the NBC sports channel on Roku may have all the sports airing if I have read things correctly.) It’s a fairly minor show of support, but our Olympic shooters could probably use a little more support.

Apple Getting Deeper Down the SJW Rabbit Hole

I have been a Mac user off and on (mostly on) since College. Bitter also became a convert. Since Tim Cook has taken over Apple, it’s been downhill from there. Not only has Apple’s quality control suffered under Cook, but the company has become overly political, and taken sides in the culture wars. Everyone knew Steve Jobs was a hippie, but he was careful to keep Apple out of controversial issues. Now Apple has decided to purge firearm emojis from their operating system, and replace them with water guns. Yeah, fuck you Tim Cook.

This weekend I did something I hadn’t done in years: installed Windows on one of my Macs. I did not do this for full time purposes: there’s a game I’m playing that works on both Windows, Mac, and Linux. But it turns out that Apple’s OpenGL support on Nvidia hardware has been a hot mess since Yosemite. The creators of the game apologize profusely for the problems, but the fact is that the constant crashing and weird screen artifacts are caused by bugs in Apple’s NVidia drivers. Additionally, I lose about 10fps over Windows, again, because of bad OpenGL support on the Mac. These aren’t the only persisting quality control issues Apple has been having. I could go on, and on.

So I may start transitioning to the PC world. For me it almost feels like selling out, but I’m not sure Microsoft is the evil empire they used to be. Now that’s Facebook and Google. Apple, I worry, is headed for tough times again. I was still loyal during the reign of Michael Spindler and Gil Amelio. I have been through tough times with Apple, but they have become “The Man.” They have abandoned me as a user, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t also abandon them. If I move to the Windows or back to the Desktop Linux world (Linux on the Desktop honestly still sucks), I’m certainly not going to pay the price premium for Apple’s hardware.

Congratulations Tim Cook. I’ve stood by a lot of suck from Apple, but you’re a sucky bridge too far.

Is The Brady Campaign Abandoning “Assault Weapons” Issue?

Says Dan Gross of the Brady Campaign:

â€œThere is a very specific type of gun that we want banned â€“ none of them,â€ said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign. â€œAll we are trying to do is keep guns out of the hands of people we all agree that shouldnâ€™t have them. Whether you love or hate guns, you agree that a convicted violent criminal, domestic abuser, someone who is dangerously mentally ill, or a would-be terrorist should not be able to get their hands on guns.â€

Could have fooled me, Dan. Yep, not for bans at all. I have no idea how anyone could think otherwise. I get that Gross is a serial liar on par with Hillary Clinton, but this really stretches credulity. They are absolutely supportive of banning specific types of guns. If the Brady Campaign wished to change its stripes, it would have removed any reference to these pages. All gun control organizations favor banning any gun they have the political power to ban. Assault Weapons were just convenient targets after the movement to ban handguns went nowhere. It has nothing to do with crime control.

Massachusetts only had two crimes committed with “Assault Weapons” in the past five years, yet their Attorney General still chose by fiat to grossly expand the ban. The only proponent of gun control who’s been willing to be honest about what a farce this issue is has been Professor Adam Winkler. In some ways, this issue has been beneficial to gun rights activists because it motivates our coalition to action. As I’ve said before, I’d hate to be dealing with a gun control movement that was very careful to not overreach.

How Is This Better Than a Decent Quick Open Safe?

A new startup is looking to wedge “smart” technology onto a Glock handgun. It’s basically just a mechanical combination lock that gets over the grip. The Glock grip is already pretty stout for a lot of shooters, so I’m not sure how this is really going to work. This is what happens when non-gun people try to solve imagined problems without really having the background.

I actually like the alarm feature, and would love to see a quick open safe that alarms if it’s being mucked about with. But it’s absolutely silly to try to build this into the firearm itself. If only this much research, money, and effort went into making better, cheaper and more secure quick-open safes, rather than trying to solve the wrong problem, we might actually get somewhere!

Sheriffs Oppose Bloomberg Ballot Measure in Nevada

Question 1 on the Nevada Ballot is basically what Bloomberg successfully spent tons of money to get in Washington State. They are back for more of the gun rights pie in Washington, and you can be sure they will be in Nevada as well. Ballot fights almost always go to the side the spends on the most money. Sure, eventually Bloomberg will likely overreach and lose, but where will that be? We were successful at defeating handgun bans via ballot in the 1970s, but what about the new strategy of nibbling around the margins?

It’s useful that a majority of Nevada sheriffs have come out against Question 1.

“It really shows how gun violence is impacting various areas in our communities,” said Jennifer Crowe, spokeswoman for Nevadans for Background Checks. “They know it’ll make a difference and save lives.”

Ask Jennifer Crowe how much money she’s getting from Bloomberg. Rest assured, she’s paid, just like the people who went around to collect the signatures required.

Remember, they’ve been offered a compromise on this which involved full background checks for ever sale, and they rejected it out of hand. This isn’t and has never been about background checks. It’s about using the 4473 to create de-facto registration.

Weekly Gun News – Edition 44

There are tabs to clear, and things to be done! But walking outside ain’t one of them, because it’s too effin hot.

Guidance issued by State Department on ITAR regulations and FFLs. This will require gunsmiths to register, which costs thousands of dollars a year, since the Administration has decided to label them “manufacturers.”

No, next question: are AR-15s assault rifles (warning, auto play video).

Gun club memberships in coastal New Hampshire on the rise. Note that the coastal areas are where a lot of fleeing Massachusetts people choose to settle, so a good sign.

“Knife Rights: The Unseen Side of the Second Amendment” This part of the movement has been enjoying a lot of quiet success.

This is not good news. The cause? Bloomberg’s money, pretty much.

You don’t say? New York Times argues that there might be a copycat effect in regards to mass shootings.

Joe Huffman on “proportional force.”Â This is found in a lot of other places, and it’s bunk. Deadly force is deadly force, and you should be allowed to defend yourself with deadly force.

Yes, there are still gun owners out there who are ignorant as hell,a n don’t mind advertising it to the world. They usually tend to be old fogies who don’t feel comfortable with changing technology and culture.

Derpwagon operators still in jail.

More women are viewing gun rights as a top issue.

No shocker: Hillary delegate to DNC says the whole “common sense” and “for the children” thing is just a sham, and the real purpose is to ban guns.

Speaking of Dems and Guns, support for the Second Amendment has been erased from the Democratic Platform.

Chris Cox: “Clinton Supreme Court means â€˜your right to own a firearm is goneâ€™” I’ve seen lefty sites mocking this, but it’s absolutely true. Ginsburg has been pretty up front about her desire to overturn Heller and McDonald.

Gun cartoon of the day. The internet, for the most part, is becoming a wasteland. Especially social media.

Twitter plummets! We’re probably going to be removing our presence on Twitter in the near future. Their censorship of conservative views is becoming blatant, and it just plain sucks. I don’t care what they are censoring, a social media platform needs to be neutral if it is to be useful.

Why the NRA isn’t talking about guns. The real truth is that a few years ago, when NRA experienced a backlash from its membership over their past endorsement of Harry Reid, they discovered their members didn’t really give a shit about gun rights, so much as making sure NRA is on the “right side” of conservative issues.

The Guardian: “Hillary Clinton’s focus on guns is politically bold. Her solutions are old school.” Well, she’s an old white woman, the gun control crowd’s core base.

I have to agree with SayUncle that Trump played the Russian e-mail leak well. The best comment I’ve ever heard about Trump was “It’s like the comment sections of the Internet came to life as Donald Trump and decided to run for President.”

Positive Signs

NBC News is reporting “Millennials Are Less Likely to Support Gun Control Than You’d Think.” There’s a component of that generation that borrowed radicalism from their late boomer parents. But for the most part Millennials are more open to letting people do their thing if they aren’t bothering anyone. They are tolerant to a fault, if anything. There isn’t a whole lot of busy-body in that generation. So there is hope. But like I’ve said many times, if we can’t get them voting on gun rights, it won’t matter.

From the Columbus Dispatch, “More African-Americans favoring owning guns, but racial inequity alleged on exercise of rights.”

Smithâ€™s forum reflects what researchers see as growing interest among African-Americans in gun ownership. But becoming a black licensed gun owner is not a risk-free prospect, a fact brought to light this month by the police shooting of Philando Castile, who had a permit to carry a concealed weapon when he was shot in his car July 6, and by the presence at a Dallas rally the next day of perhaps 30 marchers openly carrying rifles.

Dallas police mistakenly labeled a black licensed gun owner as a â€œperson of interestâ€ after a black gunman who was not part of the rally opened fire, killing five police officers.

Read the whole thing.Â I’d expect that person would have been a “person of interest” no matter what color the protesters were. That isn’t intended to undermine the issue, because I think it’s real. It’s important that the RKBA movement keep spreading the history. If we can crack into the black community, women, and hispanics, the gun control movement has no viable future, even if Bloomberg keeps spending big.

Early Gun Control Meant to Disarm Blacks

For their own good, you see. This was the 1927 law that banned mailing of handguns through US Post Offices. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I’m reminded of this C.S. Lewis quote:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

I think that describes a lot of our opponents in this fight.

Got Nuthin’

I spent the weekend doing good and wholesome thing like making beer, so I did not keep up with the news. I’ll go digging for stories later and post something later. I hate making beer during the summer, because other than the oppressive temperatures and humidity, I have to heat exchange the tap water with a bucket of ice water to get the wort chilled enough. My summer beers will be a Saison and a Leftover concoction that will resemble vaguely and American Amber Ale. It was just to use up ingredients.

Meanwhile, what do you guys think of this? I don’t think it’s any substitute for a good quick-open safe, but it has some interesting features. I think this is the kind of outside the box thinking that isn’t happening when (usually anti-gun) people are thinking about smart guns:

It’s being developed by Zore, which is an Israeli company. At the very least this should encourage safe makers to up their game. I’d love to have a safe that would tell me when someone is diddling with the lock, lets me know the door is open or the tumbler hasn’t been randomized or locked if I leave the house.