Author Archives: Joe

Who is delusional?

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I find this attitude “interesting”:

Gun reformers feel history is on their side despite bleak outlook in Congress

In the face of such tragedy, anti–gun violence activists have doubled down on their commitment to push for more reform, regardless of who controls Congress after November.

Murphy echoed that commitment, even as he conceded that Congress was unlikely to pass another gun control bill this year. Praising the anti–gun violence community as “one of the great social change movements in the history of this nation,” Murphy said he and his allies were just getting started.

“All of those great social change movements that you read about in the history books, they failed a whole bunch of times before they ever changed the world,” Murphy said. “My hope is based upon the history books, which tell you – when your cause is right and you choose not to give up, in this country, in a democracy – you eventually prevail.”

There is zero mention of the Second Amendment and recent SCOTUS decisions in the article. Is this something they really believe and are delusional? Or are they just trying to “rally the troops” in a time of great depression? Either reason would explain the omission of the 2nd Amendment.

Of course I could be delusional. This was totally unexpected: Bump stock ban remains as Supreme Court turned away challenge from gun rights advocates. I hope the ATF creation of new law without congressional action will be addressed in an unrelated case, but directly applicable to, the bump stock issue. The end result could be the same overruling of the bump stock ban but much cleaner, broad ranging, and perhaps decreased perception of SCOTUS being owned by gun owners or some such thing.

Putin’s next move?

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Via “reliable sources” which I am not at liberty to share* the resistance to the war by the Russian people is getting energetic. At least 13 military recruitment offices have been burned down. Police shooting in the air has been failing to to break up protests, and people are burning Putin’s portrait. And an estimated 260,000 men of military age have left the country.

So, what is Putin to do?

This should not come as a surprise:

Nuclear weapons convoy sparks fears Putin could be preparing test to send ‘signal to the West’:

A train operated by the secretive nuclear division and linked to the 12th main directorate of the Russian ministry of defence was spotted in central Russia over the weekend heading towards the front line in Ukraine.

The pro-Russian Telegram channel Rybar shared the footage showing the large freight convoy hauling upgraded armoured personnel carriers and other equipment.

Konrad Muzyka, a defence analyst specialising in Ukraine, said the 12th directorate operated a dozen central storage facilities for nuclear weapons.

Is he bluffing?

If he isn’t and pops an mushroom cloud, then what does NATO do? If they don’t have a vigorous response then Putin can annex any piece of ground without a NATO stamp on it, and maybe even non-nuclear possessing NATO countries. And with an energetic response from NATO, then what?

My understanding is that all the war games against Russia with scenarios that result in just one nuke being used result in everything being released.

Prepare appropriately. I want an underground bunker in Antarctica.

* There are open sources for all the information in this paragraph, but my source is a meld/analysis of the open sources.

Quote of the day—us (@NMViolin)

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Dude…you know that gun is never going to have sex with you, right?

us (@NMViolin)
Tweeted on June 29, 2022
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Via a tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail

If this guy thinks this might need explaining then it would appear he had to do the experiments to figure that out on his own. I wonder how long he tried before he gave up.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jonathan Turley

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In an age of rage, Washington Post columnist and MSNBC contributor Jennifer Rubin has long been a standout in her attacks on Republicans and conservatives: “We have to collectively, in essence, burn down the Republican Party. We have to level them because if there are survivors, if there are people who weather this storm, they will do it again.” However, her recent column shows that she has made a clean break not only from Republicans but from reason. The writer (long cited by the Post as their “Republican columnist” for balance) has called for the media to abandon balance and impartiality. Rubin is demanding that the media just become overt advocates in refusing to report both sides in the myriad of political issues in this election.

In her column, Rubin rejects the “need for false balance” because the coverage can suggest that Republicans are “rational.”

Jonathan Turley
September 24, 2022
Washington Post Columnist Calls for the End of Impartiality and Balance in Journalism
[This is what they think of you.

Prepare and respond appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jim Kenney

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This is a gun country, it’s crazy, we’re the most armed country in world history and we’re one of the least safest. Until Americans decide that they want to give up the guns, and give up the opportunity to get guns, we’re gonna have this problem. I’ll be happy when I’m not… mayor.

Jim Kenney
Philadelphia Mayor
July 5, 2022
Philly Mayor Jim Kenney Says He’s So Sick of Guns He’ll Be ‘Happy’ to Not Be Mayor
[With that attitude toward a specific enumerated right, a lot of other people will be glad when he is not mayor too.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Tracey Wilson (@TWilsonOttawa)

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It’s been 878 days since the Libs “banned” my AR-15. It’s right where it’s always been, locked away in my safe, in my gun room. Violent criminals continue to shoot up our cities & illicit guns still flow across our borders to gangs.
It’s all theatre #FakeBan #FakePublicSafety

Tracey Wilson (@TWilsonOttawa)
Tweeted on September 26, 2022
[I’m hoping to get a chance to get some face time with a gun owning friend in British Columbia in the next couple of months. I want to know what the “word on the street” is like.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Tyler Shandro

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Alberta is not legally obligated and will not offer any provincial resources to the Federal Government as it seeks to confiscate lawfully acquired firearms.

Tyler Shandro
Alberta’s Minister of Justice
September 26, 2022
BREAKING: Kenney Commands Alberta RCMP to Ignore Trudeau’s Gun Laws
[Via email from Rolf and a blog post by Clayton.

It’s a much stronger statement than just the above quote. It is made very clear they are not going to take this gun banning crap from the Feds.

As Rolf said in the email:

Nullification? They may be getting close to a national split faster than we are.

And Clayton:

Anytime you want to change teams, Alberta, we would love to have another gun rights state.

Alberta connects with Montana. I could see that working. If their politics were suitable I’d like to see British Columbia joining. That would connect Alaska to the lower 48 (or 49 with Alberta).—Joe]

St. Javelin

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Via email from PKoning:

Today’s WSJ had an article about a group that’s ridiculing Putin online, calling itself “NAFO”.  The article came with a photo of a mural on a building depicting “St. Javelin”.  It reminded me of an article a week earlier, describing the “ragtag army” that saved Kyiv from the invading Russians.  One of the soldiers featured in that article is a lady anti-tank missile operator, who in civilian life was a journalist.

As depicted in popular media:

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In real life:

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How to know if you need a gun

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Via CF Active @ActiveCf:

image

You aren’t polluting—you are fertilizing

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Well, duh!

Carbon Dioxide Seems to Be Making Trees Grow Faster, Scientists Say

Amid serious concerns about the climate effects of carbon dioxide, scientists have discovered something intriguing — that trees appear to be growing faster and larger as levels of the compound rise.

In a press release, environmental researchers at Ohio State University claimed that the rate and size at which forests are growing may already be counteracting the worst effects of climate change.

“Forests are taking carbon out of the atmosphere at a rate of about 13 percent of our gross emissions,” Brent Sohngen, co-author of the school’s study published recently in Nature Communications and OSU professor of environmental and resource economics, said. “While we’re putting billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we’re actually taking much of it out just by letting our forests grow.”

I suspect farm and garden crop yields are also improving.

People who want CO2 emissions reduced want people to starve*.

* Yeah, it is an absurd statement. But, if gun owners insisting the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms not be infringed means we want school children murdered then environmentalist should be able to suck it up when they are accused of wanting people to starve.

Quote of the day—Brian Riedl

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The progressives demanding new debt-financed programs to take advantage of low interest rates did not acknowledge that Washington is already on course to borrow $114 trillion over 30 years just to finance current programs.

Brian Riedl
September 20, 2022
Expected Interest Rate Hike Will Add $2 Trillion to the Deficit
[Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Chip Brownlee

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People convicted of violent felonies were not prohibited from purchasing or possessing guns under federal law until 1934. It wasn’t until the 1968 Gun Control Act when that prohibition was extended to all felonies and to people with a history of drug abuse or mental illness. Background checks were not mandated by federal law until 1994, and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System didn’t start until 1998. States didn’t begin criminalizing domestic violence until the 1900s, and federal law didn’t prohibit people convicted of domestic violence misdemeanor offenses from getting a firearm until 1996.

Chip Brownlee
July 19, 2022
The Real Significance of the Supreme Court’s Gun Decision
[This is from The Trace.

It is nice for them to admit this. Because these laws are far newer than when the 2nd Amendment was ratified, the Bruen decision will almost certainly mean these laws are vulnerable to being thrown out as unconstitutional.

It is long road but the signage to a win is easily visible.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Lizbeth Adams @Lizbeth69108338

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No one wants to take away your ‘right’ to own your small penis compensating firearms.

That’s a stu*id dog whistle for you gun nutters.

Lizbeth Adams @Lizbeth69108338
Tweeted on June 20, 2022
[It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

“No one wants to take away your firearms?” Really? Who are you going to believe? Her or your lying eyes?—Joe]

Quote of the day—Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow

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The research also found that gun owners who are receptive to regulations feel alienated by the current national conversation. They have a fundamentally different view than most gun-safety activists and pro-reform politicians who don’t own guns. Whereas someone like me sees guns as dangerous, gun owners typically see them as a way to keep safe. Whereas I associate guns exclusively with harm, gun owners see them as a tool that can be used for good or bad purposes. This helps explain a widespread conviction among gun owners: that policy should focus on “keeping guns out of the wrong hands,” not on bans of certain types of weapons or attempts to reduce the number of guns in the country. Another survey found that most gun owners believe that gun-reform advocates ultimately want to take their guns away. This belief makes them mistrustful and reluctant to speak out for any reforms at all — the “slippery slope” argument.

Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow
September 21, 2022
Will Gun Owners Fight for Stronger Gun Laws? — A new group, which includes two former NRA lobbyists, is betting on it
[Yet another gun control group. How many have failed now? Yet they keep trying to put lipstick on the pig.

While she has a better understanding of her opposition than most anti-gun people she has certain important “facts” wrong. For example she apparently believes:

Siegel has found that the majority of gun owners support four laws shown to be effective: universal background checks, prohibitions for those convicted of violent misdemeanors, permits for concealed carry, and permits for gun purchases and possession. He estimates that if all four were implemented, firearm homicides would decline by 35 percent.

Technically this may be true. But it is extremely deceptive in it’s wording.

“Firearm homicide” includes defensive use of firearms. Even if it did only include murder by firearm it does not mean it would decrease the murder rate because criminals substitute other weapons when firearms become difficult to obtain.

There are other weasel words and phrases in this claim as well as outright lies which I will leave as an exercise for the reader.

And the last point I would like to make is that she totally ignores the Bruen decision.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jolie McCullough

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The U.S. attorney’s office said the law to prohibit those under felony indictment from obtaining guns does not interfere with the Second Amendment “because it does not disarm felony indictees who already had guns and does not prohibit possession or public carry.”

Jolie McCullough
September 19, 2022
Texas judge rules that people under felony indictment have the right to buy guns under the Second Amendment
[As I understand it, this Federal Prosecutor is making the argument that the law prohibiting the purchase of a firearm by someone with a felony indictment is constitutional because the person can continue to possess and carry any existing firearms they own. But can’t the defense attorney also claim because their client is allowed to keep and use any firearm they already own the law against purchase is nonsensical, serves no purpose, and the client has harmed no one despite breaking a law? Or is this one of those cases where you just have to say, “It’s just a law. It doesn’t have to make sense?”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Frank Miniter

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Gun-control groups want this freedom issue framed as a “safety issue,” with gun control as the solution; as in, if the elites just had the power to ban, confiscate or deeply restrict the use of firearms, they could save the people. That’s nonsense, of course, as history shows again and again that disarmed peoples are not and do not remain free; “safe” is not an adjective the people of Venezuela, to give one example, would now use to describe their situation.

Frank Miniter
September 21, 2022
This Is Not A Culture War
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Super volcano awakens

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This is ominous:

A supervolcano has had its alert level increased in the wake of 700 earthquakes occurring nearby.

Taupō volcano, which is a supervolcano situated underneath New Zealand‘s largest lake, Lake Taupō, had its Volcanic Alert Level (VAL) increased from 0 to 1 on September 20. Level 1 indicates minor volcanic unrest, according to GeoNet, a geological hazard agency in New Zealand.

Lake Taupō sits within the giant caldera of a supervolcano on New Zealand’s North Island, roughly six miles above the magma chamber. The volcano has erupted 25 times in the last 12,000 years, most recently in the year A.D. 232, resulting in the largest and most violent eruption on Earth in the past 5,000 years.

If it erupted 25 times in the last 12,000 years, that is an average of once every 480 years. With the most recent eruption in 232, then it is “overdue” (these things are not anywhere near that regular) by about 1,300 years.

Even now, pools of water 30 miles away boil from the heat.

By definition, a super volcano erupts with 1,000 km3 (about 240 cubic miles – a cube of material over 6.2 miles on a side) of material ejected. An eruption like that will give us some “climate change” to deal with.

Prepare appropriately.

Quote of the day—Eric Schmitt

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The creation of a Merchant Category Code for sales at U.S. gun stores will not only not accomplish its intended goal, but is rife for misuse and abuse. Missourians value their Second Amendment rights and oppose any attempts to create a de-facto gun registry. I’m proud to stand up for those rights and will oppose this decision by the major credit card companies at every turn.

Eric Schmitt
Missouri Attorney General
September 21, 2022
Missouri Attorney General slams credit card companies for violation of Second Amendment rights
[Twenty four attorneys general signed a letter sent to American Express, Master Card and VISA CEOs.  I can’t imagine this accomplishing anything more than some positive publicity for the signers of the letter. But it doesn’t hurt our cause any either.—Joe]

Quote of the day—David Hardy

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At the time of its enactment ATF had testified that crime with registered full autos were virtually nonexistent. I did quite a bit of research, and had only found 3-4 homicides in which one was used (two I think were by LEOs), over an 80+ year period (I also found one use in self-defense). So how could the 1986 ban be justified, except as a completely arbitrary decision? Bruen of course rules out balancing tests, but in practice that will weigh on every judge’s mind, “what will I look like if I strike that down?” For the 1986 ban, the answer would be “I merely struck down a law that had been aimed at a problem that didn’t exist.”

David Hardy
September 7, 2022
My latest law review manuscript is online
[When you think about it, a realistic path to legalizing access to new machine guns is pretty amazing compared to the dark ages of the 1990s.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Anonymous FBI Agent

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The demand for White supremacy vastly outstrips the supply of White supremacy. We have more people assigned to investigate White supremacists than we can actually find.

Anonymous FBI Agent
September 16, 2022
Biden Reportedly Pressuring FBI to ‘Cook Up’ White Supremacy Cases
[When a government can not find enough criminals to meet their needs (in this case it is for the suppression of their political opposition) they will create them.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]