Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 862 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

Checking in from Charlotte

Wow. So Sebastian is in the Firearms Law Seminar with no power and no wifi, and I just sat down in the Leadership Forum with many of the other bloggers here at the Blog Bash.

This city has never seen an event so big. It’s a massive infusion of money into their economy. So how do they greet us? By asking us not to shoot them. Fan-freakin’-tastic. That makes me never want to even visit Charlotte again.

As Jim Geraghty (who is sitting in front of me), points out today, they also call it a massive right-wing convention while we have speakers like the Democratic governor, Congressman Heath Shuler, and my favorite Oklahoma Congressman Dan Boren.

As a matter of space, I’m not sure Charlotte could host the event again. They had to cancel the banquet this year because there is no space large enough. It’s now another speaking event. The arena is already packed, with a full floor and up the sides. There are huge lines outside. It’s a great day to be an NRA member, even if Charlotte is a little small for our needs.

13th Annual Firearms Law Seminar

I’m attending the NRA Law Seminar today. If I were an attorney this would qualify for Continuing Legal Education credits. Among the speakers is Dave Hardy, Stephen Halbrook, Don Kates, and Nelson Lund. I’ll try to update a bit during the day, but I’m running on battery here and they have no WiFi. Like the dorky kid in class, I’m sitting at the front row.

As you can see, there’s a lot of material to cover today. This should be very interesting.

Arrived at Charlotte

A view of the show floor being set up.

This is the view from the media office. Really, I meant to post this last night, but didn’t have a chance.

Polling Shows People Wary of Open Carry

I wouldn’t read much into polls, because the one thing polls don’t tell you is where the passion for an issue is. ButÂ RasmussenÂ is at least a reputable poller, and polls show the public is wary of open carry.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 41% of Adults are at least somewhat concerned about their safety in the presence of those who have â€œconcealed carryâ€ gun permits. Fifty-eight percent (58%) donâ€™t share that concern.

But 47% oppose so-called â€œopen carryâ€ laws that would allow citizens to openly wear their guns in public. Forty-one percent (41%) favor laws. Several states are currently wrestling with this issue.

In households with a gun owner, support for â€œopen carryâ€ laws rises to 57%. In households where no gun is present, 62% oppose them.

Truth be told, I don’t think these poll numbers areÂ devastatingÂ to the cause of Open Carry, and we already know that the Brady folks haven’t had a lot of luck doing fundraising on twitter using the issue. Concealed carry once had poll numbers that were this low. That’s not to say I’m about to endorse open carry in all places and all circumstances, but 57% support among gun owners is better than I thought it would be. The big question is where the passion is, because that’s moreÂ indicativeÂ of how the struggle will play out politically. The polling doesn’t really matter, but it’s useful to at least get an approximate gauge of what people think.

Spoke too Soon?

I did a post yesterday about how gun control bills in New York were having a hard time moving. Well, Microstamping just passed the New York Assembly, and is on its way to the Senate. The Senate has for a while been what’s stopped gun control bills from passing in New York State, as it remained under Republican control for a while. But now it’s hard to say whether that’s going to hold with the Democrats in charge.

On Mental Illness and Gun Rights

Eugene Volokh notes some aspects of the revised United State Code, Section 922, which is a large part of our federal gun laws. This was revised by the NICS Improvement Act several years ago. As Eugene notes, it would seem that rights to people with mental health issues are automatically restored in the case of federal commitments, which are largely veterans under the care of the Veterans Administration. I point this out because this directly contradicts GOA’s ridiculous claims about this law, calling it the “Veterans Disarmament Act.” Maybe if they had actually read the bill, they would have understood what it did and did not do. But why bother with facts when you can get some good NRA hatin’ going? That’s good for GOA’s fundraising efforts, after all.

More on Michael Bellesiles’ “NRA Conspiracy”

From Jim Lindgren, who was one of the scholars who helped take Armed America down. He takes down the notion that NRA had anything to do with Bellesiles “swiftboating” with some cold hard facts.

After the Bellesiles affair was over, I asked a law professor who had in the past received funding from the NRA why the NRA was so savvy to stay out of it and let the academics handle it in the normal way. The answer I got is that the NRA wasnâ€™t savvy so much as it is suspicious of academics, whom they neither understand nor trust. If the NRA pays for something, they want to control the message â€” and most academics wonâ€™t take money on thatÂ basis.

There is certainly truth to this, but I think it should be clarified that NRA does fund and has funded quite a bit of academic work by researchers. NRA is more wary of outsiders, I think, than academics. Trusting outsiders in politics is risky, and NRA is no exception when it comes to keeping it in the family.

But they probably take this a bit too far. Clayton Cramer has always struck me as the kind of guy who would be a valuable addition to the NRA family, yet I don’t really think NRA has made any attempt to reach out to him or try to work with him. It tends to work the other way, mostly, and I think that can be short sighted at times.

Crosman Enters the PCP Air Pistol Market

The one thing I can’t stand about Crosman air pistols is the trigger. The other thing I can’t stand is how poorly the CO2 is regulated. This product seems to fix at least one of those things. I’ll probably get one, just because they are so cheap. Unfortunately they are not so cheap that they can be used for IHMSA Production Class, but I’m of the opinion that the IHMSA governing body needs to consider upping the price for production class.

On The Road to Charlotte

We’re hurling down the Pennsylvania Turnpike, on our way to Charlotte. Been on the road since 5AM at this point. There some pretty good media coverage of the NRA Annual Meeting today in the media. First, Josh Sugarmann notes that NRA is getting in good with the Teabaggers and Militia whakos in Charlotte:

Palinâ€™s appearance is only the most public example of growing links between the NRA and the Tea Party movement. The recently released Violence Policy Center (VPC) studyÂ Lessons Unlearned: The Gun Lobby and the Siren Song of Anti-Government Rhetoric details NRA marketing to Tea Party supporters and reveals links in nine states between NRA State Election Volunteer Coordinators, the Tea Party movement, and other factions of the “Patriot movement.” The study also offers examples of how the NRA is once again embracing and validating anti-government rhetoric.

What a sad, rage filled man Josh is these days. WBTV Charlotte notes that the convention will be the largest in the state’s history, and says, “The entire event is expected to pump $20 million into the local economy.Â Love it or hate it, the NRA is going to have a very large, very positive effect on businesses here.”

Huluq notes that there will be 400 vendors with their wares on display, and that “80 percent of those in attendance will be male.” I am happy to report that 33.3% of this car is female, so we’re helping balance that a little bit at least. The Charlotte Observer notes what the other side will be doing during the convention, and sadly it doesn’t seem like they will be protesting us.

“We don’t protest the right to own guns and gunowners,” [North Carolinians Against Gun Violence] said. “We work with them. This is simply another option for people who want to prevent gun violence.”

A shame, because we need someone to snicker at.

iPad Blogging

Since we’re leaving for Charlotte do early, Dan from PAFOA is staying with us here for the night, and he brought his iPad. I’m doing this post from it to try out how I like the keyboard and interface. First impressions is that the iPad is fast, much faster tine the iPhone, and the interface is fantastic. The display is really nice, and I’m finding it much easier to use for blogging than an iPhone. Not sure still if I really have a need for one, but it’s definitely a solid product.