Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 87 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

Real Controversy? Or Ginned Up by the Media?

There’s been articles in both the Washington PostÂ and The GuardianÂ about how NRA is split over the whole Castile police shooting. Personally, I think it’s better for NRA not to go off half-cocked at events like this until all the facts are in. For events like this, it’s often good to look at what NRA News is saying, since they are NRA’s official unofficial spokespeople (meaning they say things NRA can’t since they don’t officially speak for the NRA):

NRA is always going to be reluctant to risk coming across as anti-cop because a) police and former police compromise a decent percentage of the membership, and b) when NRA has gone up against law enforcement in the past, NRA has lost. You can lament that state of affairs, but it is the state of affairs.

NRA is never going to have a knee jerk reaction to events like this, and to be honest, they shouldn’t. The Civil Rights Defense Fund often takes cases involving people, and yes, even black people, who’s civil rights were unjustly violated, but they are very careful about which cases they back. Again, they should be.

I think the division is not necessarily ginned up by the media, but is real. NRA is a coalition, just like any other movement, and we don’t all come to this issue from the same set of principles. There are libertarian NRA members, like myself and I suspect a lot of readers, who are very concerned with civil liberties and police overreach. But there are also a lot of NRA members who are populist and think the police can do no wrong. The folks in Fairfax have to be concerned with keeping these people focused on the issue and not at each other’s throats. That’s not an easy job.

Wayne LaPierre SWATed?

According to this article, about the conviction of the man who reportedly did this to several celebrities:

Islam’s conspiracy made a fake call to police, leading police to the NRA head’s Virginia home and leading them to “briefly detain” him, LaPierre’s lawyer said.

The dude’s last name is Islam, just to be clear. Sounds like he was a recluse and probably a bit off his rocker. He also published Mike Bloomberg’s Social Security Number, so it doesn’t seem like he’s just picking sides here. Sounds like a loser who needs to feel powerful.

Either way, he got two years.

Ladd Everitt Leaves CSGV

He’s joined George Takei’s new gun control group “One Pulse for America,” as Director. I’d ponder whether this represents rats off the sinking ship, but given that going from Communication’s Director of a small gun control group to running a whole new group which may end up being more successful represents a promotion, and it’s probably something I’d take (were I in his shoes) even if CSGV isn’t headed down.

Takei doesn’t have the coin to fund a group at nearly the level Bloomberg does, so it will be interesting to see how this works out. One thing is for sure, Pink PistolsÂ and Operation Blazing Sword just got a lot more important. Have it it folks! Ladd Everitt is now your new arch nemesis.

Media Goes After C&R? Really?

Yellow Journalism Ahead

CBS News reports, or rather misreports, because they don’t know what they are talking about:

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives calls the SKS rifle Micah Johnson used to killÂ five Dallas police officersÂ on July 7 a “Curio or Relic.”

Due to this status, which the SKS shares with many other models of Berettas, Colts, Remingtons, Rugers and other firearms that are at least 50 years old, gun dealers said that in some states and jurisdictions the Soviet-era rifle can be purchased online and delivered to your door without securing a permit.

Um, you can only have one of these “delivered to your door” if you apply for a Federal Firearms License. So you do indeed need to secure a “permit,” whatever the fuck they think that means.

Yes, old technology can still be pretty effective in the hands of a well-trained shooter. Yes, having a ten round fixed magazine is not really much of an impediment to a well-trained shooter either. This is why we keep saying that assault weapons bans are stupid. The SKS is legal even in California, with it’s very severe Assault Weapons Ban. Even the new ban allows the SKS.

I also love how in these articles, they always talk about how quickly you can apply for a license. How long should it take? There’s only so much information they need to know to run a background check. You half expect if they aren’t asking you the name of your pet hamster when you were a kid, then it cannot, of course, be very thorough.

It sure would be nice if they actually took the time to understand how all this stuff works before writing about it.

Weekly Gun News – Edition 42

I hate to start a week with a news links post, but I have too many tabs, and they need a clearin’. This is a mix of old and new news.

NPR is forced to issue a correction that Shannon Watts isn’t just some stay at home mom that decided to stand up and do something about gun control.

Three Strategies to Beat the NRA. None of these will work because they still don’t get what really makes us successful. Hint: it’s not a top down movement.

Why are anti-gun people so violent?Â I hope the good professor here knows that NRA HQ being a gun free zone is a myth perpetrated by gun control groups.

Uber is and remains an anti-gun company.

Hawaii puts gun owners into FBI Database. Expect other states to follow this.

Forbes: “Law Professor Demands Repeal Of ‘Outdated’ Second Amendment, Makes Very Weak Case”

This reporter schools New York Daily News Reporter Gresh Kuntzman.

A way around California’s new AWB.

Gun Control groups target Rubio (R-FL), Ayotte (R-NH), and Johnson (R-WI). Good to see Ayotte’s capitulations paying off for her.

Charleston Church victim sues FBI over gun buy.

Fifth Circuit: No Second Amendment Right to a Machine Gun. In truth, we’ll be lucky to get protections against semi-auto bans.

Jim Geraghty: “We should all be afforded the time and space to mourn, to process, to cope. But itâ€™s hard to take a deep breath and reflect when your Twitter feed blows up with complete strangers insisting â€œYOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!â€ for the actions of a madman.”

Joe Huffman: Gun Access Makes Women Safer.

York Dispatch: A surprisingly positive article about gun shows.

Slate: “Whatever Happened to Michael Bloombergâ€™s Anti-Gun Crusade?Â It still existsâ€”and itâ€™s starting to work.” They don’t hate money in politics. They just hate your money in politics.

Times Union: “Second Amendment not an unrestrained license to kill.” Who argued that it was? It sure would be nice if they argued about things we actually believed.

Shocker: “Study Learns Chicago Criminals DON’T Buy Their Guns Legally.”

Non Gun:

The New Censorship: “How did Google become the internetâ€™s censor and master manipulator, blocking access to millions of websites?”

City Journal: “Elected on themes of hope and renewal, his very ascendancy a powerful statement about the countryâ€™s racial journey, he chose to use the White House as a vehicle to introduce a new era of racial grievance into our national discourse. Unfortunately, he succeeded in this effortâ€”and failed America.” I’m seeing a lot more articles along these lines, and not just from conservative media.

Why No One Should Trust The Media

This Fox News bit is just rambling ignorance by three people who have no idea what they are talking about. There’s a bit where she talks about getting DNA off the casings. This woman is being sold as a forensics expert:

I’d say she ought to seek out a decent firearms class, but I’m not sure she’s the kind of person who is suitable to have a firearm.

This passes for accurate reporting

A law enforcement source told CBS News the suspect was armed with a SKS semi-automatic assault rifle and a handgun, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports.

What…

Uh…

That phrase does not make sense. Because of ONE politically-charged word. By dropping that one word into the description, it makes the whole thing a multi-layered lie.

Superior Court Rules No Weapons on School Property

Some unfortunate news from Pennsylvania Superior Court. I believe Superior Courts mean this is now law in the entire state, so currently, it is now illegal to carry weapons on school property. The law states:

Â§ 912. Possession of weapon on school property.

(a) Definition.–Notwithstanding the definition of “weapon”Â in section 907 (relating to possessing instruments of crime),”weapon” for purposes of this section shall include but not beÂ limited to any knife, cutting instrument, cutting tool, nun-chuck stick, firearm, shotgun, rifle and any other tool,Â instrument or implement capable of inflicting serious bodilyÂ injury.

(b) Offense defined.–A person commits a misdemeanor of theÂ first degree if he possesses a weapon in the buildings of, onÂ the grounds of, or in any conveyance providing transportation toÂ or from any elementary or secondary publicly-funded educationalÂ institution, any elementary or secondary private school licensedÂ by the Department of Education or any elementary or secondaryÂ parochial school.

(c) Defense.–It shall be a defense that the weapon isÂ possessed and used in conjunction with a lawful supervisedÂ school activity or course or is possessed for other lawfulÂ purpose.

The Superior Court ruled that “other lawful purpose” needed to have a sanction from the school. In other words, the lunch ladies can have knives in the school, because their purpose is to cook lunch for the kiddies. The janitor can have a screwdriver, but not a student.

Statutes that are vague or unclear are supposed to be interpreted in a light most favorable to the defendant, but this very clear language, which exempts lawful purposes, was read to favor the state. The law already carved out an exception for the lunch ladies when it said “It shall be a defense that the weapon is possessed and used in conjunction with a lawful supervised school activity or course,” but then it went on to create a separate defense, the “other lawful purposes” defense, for the chef dropping his kid off at school on the way to the restaurant with the knives he just got sharpened.

As Josh Prince notes in his article, this appeal was pursued by a pro-se defendant, meaning a guy representing himself. That’s usually an invitation to disaster, as it was here. Nonetheless, the law is clear here, but there is no rule of law. They offer us the illusion, and not even a very good illusion, that there is rule of law, all the while ruling however they damned please.

Some Good News

There’s a fair amount of GOP Congressmen that are defecting from the NRA-backed Coburn style terror watch list proposal, meaning Ryan doesn’t have the votes to pass it. ThisÂ revolt is being lead by the House Freedom Caucus.

â€œIf the bill becomes law, it will mark a massive expansion of the governmentâ€™s ability to restrict gun rights on the basis of precrimeâ€”a crime not yet committed,â€ Freedom Caucus member Justin Amash (R-Mich.) posted in a lengthy diatribe on his Facebook page. This bill â€œis the actualization of dystopian fiction.â€

Added Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), another Freedom Caucus member: â€œIf it is a suspected terrorist and we have evidence to that extent, then Logic 101 [suggests] that person should either be in jail or out of the country.â€

And in those two lines, you basically have the “law and order” versus “civil libertarian” division in the GOP. I completely agree that even delaying a sale 72 hours is denying someone due process unconstitutionally. It would seem to me many of the anti-gun Dems want to hold out for a harsher bill, which few Republicans will support. Combine that with the Freedom Caucus opposition to the bill and I don’t see how this passes. Let us hope.

More Evidence Pamela Haag’s Bellesiles Reboot Filled With Holes

This age would seem to be the era of awful reboots in Hollywood, so it would seem fitting that in these times Pamela Haag would reboot an awful Academic book The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun Culture which is essentially Michael Bellesiles Arming America repackaged.

Clayton Cramer has been looking into this new work and is finding a lot of problems. The latest article of his is a must read, published by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). In this article, Clayton refutes Haag’s assertion that the market for firearms in gold rush California was “saturated.”

Coltâ€™s letter (or at least Haagâ€™s characterization of Coltâ€™s letter) is clearly wrong: A strong and vigorous gun culture already existed in California before 1853. Worse, that Haag never questioned the validity of this idea suggests either a gross ignorance of Californiaâ€™s turbulent history during the 1850s or an intentional unwillingness to verify the claim she purports to have found.”

Clayton also found this stunning piece of ignorance:

Throughout her book, Haag uses the word â€œsemiautomaticâ€ to refer to guns that are not. On p.179, she writes, â€œThe family name, which became the rifle name, eventually stood for the genus, becoming a synonym for repeating, semiautomatic rifles.â€ On p.88, she asserts that â€œAs the semiautomatic ancestor of automatic machine guns, the Henry performed â€˜a terrible work of deathâ€¦’â€[emphasis added] Â On p. 204, â€œWinchester had emerged the preeminent name for semiautomatic rifles.â€

Let me just say if you don’t know that the Henry Rifle and Winchester Rifle were lever-action repeating arms and not semiautomatic rifles, you really don’t have any business writing a book about guns. I suspect the rest of Clayton’s findings won’t reveal so much academic fraud as Bellesiles work, but rather stunning ignorance piled upon ignorance, and an unwillingness to apply any real academic rigor.

I’d expect nothing less from someone who believes in speaking with the dead.