Ed Rendell shooting a Coyote for messing with his dog with a Ruger LCP with a Crimson Trace Laser sight. Dave Hardy asks if we can run this guy for President. SayUncle has another link to the same story.
NRA Introduces Separate DC Gun Rights Bill
SayUncle reported this morning on this NRA press release, about the introduction of a separate bill to repeal DC’s gun laws. I don’t have the details on this, but it looks like it hints that it may fix DC’s carry laws, saying it will “repeal the District’s burdensome gun registration requirement and ensure that firearms may be transported and carried for legitimate purposes”
I’m guessing NRA wouldn’t introduce a separate bill if DC Voting Rights Act weren’t well and truly dead. Perhaps NRA overestimated the degree to which the anti-gun Democrats were willing to roll over to get their pet bill through. We probably have a pretty good chance in the Senate to get something through, but as a separate bill, I don’t give it good chances of passage. I doubt Pelosi would allow the vote in the House. Even if Nancy Pelosi were willing to roll over so some of her blue dogs can get at least a little cover from NRA, you still have to get passed Obama’s veto.
CeaseFire Caught Lying
This whole CeaseFirePA effort to become politically relevant is turning into comedy. Apparently, the reason Tom Corbett didn’t bother responding to the questionnaire was because he didn’t care for the endorsement. His campaign said the questionnaire was to be used for endorsement purposes. But CeaseFire is all about education, right?
In a follow-up interview, Grace said he’d made repeated overtures to Corbett’s campaign over the phone, through e-mail and in-person at a March debate at the National Constitution Center in Philly, to get the AG to play ball on the questionnaire.
At no time did the question of an endorsement come up, Grace said.
“It was clear as could be,” he said. “We were seeking that the Attorney General, as with all the candidates, respond to the questionnaire.”
At no time! Never did any talk of endorsement every come up. Not at all.
Except, when it did. John Micek noted that the cover letter of the questionnaire does specifically say that the questionnaire is about earning the anti-gun group’s endorsement.
What muddies the waters, however, is language on the cover letter of the questionnaire which reads thus:
“To be considered for endorsement by CeaseFirePa, please complete the questionnaire and return it to CeaseFirePA no later than February 26, 2010.”
In standard anti fashion, now they swear that it’s not what they meant. And they promise that even though they did talk about an endorsement, they didn’t really mean it.
It sounds a lot like how they jump around on the issue of gun bans, too. “We’re not for taking people’s lawfully owned guns! Except for anything we don’t like. And we don’t like rifles, shotguns, or handguns.”
Tip to Joe Grace & his anti-gun friends: It’s a lot easier to cover up your lies when you don’t lie in the first place.
Last Night’s Lost
We were absolutely exhausted by the time we returned home last night after the lobbying all day at the Capitol. But I was so happy to find out that we were back in time for Lost. Until I turned it on and found out it was a repeat. Now I know that I should have watched the entire thing because it was really so much more than that. Les Jones explains:
It was just like an earlier episode. Freaky.
It’s sort of like the audience is now time-traveling. We time-traveled back to a previous “Lost†episode. That episode had died in an alternate timeline (the Smoke Monster probably killed it), but in the new timeline it was brought back to life after bathing in the spring at the temple.
Rather than having to wait week after week and season after season, I watched all 6 seasons in fairly rapid succession given that we started from the beginning right around Christmas with our subscription to Netflix. This waiting thing, especially when they pull a repeat stunt, is for the birds. I’ll be so damn glad when this show is over.
So, who read the spoiler call sheet? (We didn’t. I just read about it.)
Bias? What Bias?
KYW apparently reported dozens at the Rally in Harrisburg, despite the rest of the state media saying hundreds, which is the correct number. I guess someone must have complained, because KYW switched to hundreds too in this mornings news.
How One Person Can Make a Difference
One thing that I wish to get across to every gun owner out there is just how easy it is for one person to make a difference in this issue if they are just willing to get a little involved. Such is the case with Adam, who is a new volunteer Bitter has been working with, and who has managed to get several of our candidates for governor on the record with respect to issues which are important to us, most recently having asked Tom Corbett about castle doctrine, to which he was non-committal.
It was noticed yesterday that Wayne, and a few other NRA higher ups, including the PA lobbyist, went off following a Corbett staffer, which I presumed was to chat about our issues. Well, Tom Corbett is now saying he’s likely to sign the bill.
Now, I don’t know if NRA read the response to the question posed by Adam or not, but it’s not inconceivable that they did. It’s quite interesting that now Corbett is saying he’s likely to sign after what would appear to be a meeting with NRA. I think any way this went down, however, Adam has played a role. At the least, it helped tremendously for Corbett to hear that concern from an actual gun owner and potential voter, which helps to reinforce NRA’s message when they go to speak to politicians.
This didn’t take much time or effort either. It just took Adam deciding to get involved, and asking what he could do to help, and then doing one small thing. Because of that we just affected a statewide Governor’s race. One person just positively affected 12 million people’s right to bear arms. It really doesn’t take much to make a difference.
Postings
Came back to work today to find a significant staff reduction had occurred while I was away in Harrisburg. Fortunately, I was not among them. Having exhausted my queue from being away from the computer all day yesterday, and most of Monday, I had nothing for this morning. Posts will be coming shortly.
If You Talk to Them, Your Grade Goes Up
It’s very telling that the anti-gun group in Pennsylvania is giving out positive grades for nothing more than acknowledging their existence. Sam Rohrer was willing to talk to CeaseFire PA, so they gave him a D. Tom Corbett blew them off, so they failed him.
I was chatting with a fellow activist who said, “I wonder what they give you if you talk to them and tell them to fuck off. D-?” I laughed.
The Tin Foil Hat Crowd Will LOVE This
The thing with the tin-foil hat crowd is that politicians try their awful damnedest to make their paranoid delusions a reality. This is one of those cases. The article also has a great quote from Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia:
He added, “People are being killed every day in the United States of America with illegal weapons. I love the 2nd Ammendment. [But], I have a 1st Ammendment right not to be shot.”
I’m pretty sure the copy of the First Amendment I memorized in school didn’t say anything about a right not to be shot. Right to free speech? Check. Freedom of religion? Check. Freedom to peaceably assemble? That’s in there too. But not be shot? Peaceably assemble without being shot maybe? I hate to tell you this Mike, but the guys getting shot and doing the shooting in your city are, shall we say, assembling for the purposes of furthering the unlicensed pharmaceutical business, for the most part. Last I checked that wasn’t peaceable.
But back to the original issue. It’s clear that the ICJ in the Hague doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the kind of case Mayor Daley wants to bring (against gun manufacturers), unless he’s egging other countries to challenge the US in the ICJ, but the US doesn’t accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction. Then again, I don’t have a lot of faith Barry wouldn’t play along with this charade.