Category Archives: Gun Rights

Quote of the day—Bookworm

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My reversal on guns came about because I realized that gun’s are a predicate requirement for individual freedom and security.  I’ve created five principles that justify this conclusion.  These principles are:  (1) Armed citizens are the best defense against the world’s most dangerous killer: government; (2) I am a Jew; (3) I am not a racist; (4) a self-defended society is a safe society; and (5) the only way gun-control activists can support their position is to lie.

Bookworm
October 1, 2015
Five reasons that the benefits that flow from guns far outweigh the risks inherent in guns
[There are a lot of different reasons people can reverse their position on a subject. If you want to have the power to change minds it is important to have as many different tools in your toolbox as you can. You may need to try a great number of them before you find the tool that works in any given situation.—Joe]

Quote of the day–Don B. Kates and Gary Mauser

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There is a compound assertion that (a) guns are uniquely available in the United States compared with other modern developed nations, which is why (b) the United States has by far the highest murder rate. Though these assertions have been endlessly repeated, statement (b) is, in fact, false and statement (a) is substantially so.

Don B. Kates and Dr. Gary Mauser
Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International and Some Domestic Evidence
Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Volume 30, Number 2, Spring 2007.
[See also the more recent commetary on it: Harvard University Study Reveals Astonishing Link Between Firearms, Crime and Gun Control (via email from Steve at work.

The paper is over eight years old but it is still relevant.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Barbara LeSavoy

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Firearm possession should be banned in America; President Obama can orchestrate this directive. His presidency can be remembered as a remarkable turn in United States history where a progressive leader forever changed the landscape under which we live and work. This is his legacy. To establish gun control laws in America that will reduce high levels of male violence and usher in a culture of peace and civility.

Barack Obama is the president of the United States. He can change the country. He can do it today. I believe in him.

Barbara LeSavoy
Director of Women and Gender Studies at The College at Brockport.
October 9, 2015
Obama’s legacy on guns should be to ban them
[One has to wonder how it is she determines truth from falsity. Does she believe men are incapable of violence against women without guns?

A firearm is the best tool to ensure she is not a victim of male violence. It is just the opposite of what she believes. It is guns which promote civility.

Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Quote of the day—D. Watkins

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So if you love guns, if they make you feel safe, if you hold and cuddle with them at night, then you need to be shot. You need to feel a bullet rip through your flesh, and if you survive and enjoy the feeling­­––then the right to bear arms will be all yours.

D. Watkins
October 16, 2015
Want a gun? Take a bullet: Take this, gutless NRA cowards — you can have a gun, once you understand the pain of being shot
[It appears to me he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of a specific enumerated right. What “price” must you pay to exercise your other rights as enumerated in the first ten amendments to the constitution? How about the 13th Amendment?

Actually it is more than a just a misunderstanding. He has it exactly backward. If he is going to violently infringe upon the right to keep and bear arms he is the one mostly likely to pay the high price.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ryan Holiday

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The most powerful predictor of virality is how much anger an article provokes. I will say it again, the most powerful predictor of what spreads online is anger.

Ryan Holiday
2013
Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator
[This is an excellent book. Jaime, my oldest daughter, got this for herself and we just started listening to it this week. Last night was our first chance to talk about it.

In some regards it is depressing and disgusting. It explains why so much of what we see online is click bait with little or no regard for the truth or completeness. On the other hand it explains in detail how much power blogs, even those with relatively small followings, have if they know what they are doing. Holiday explains in detail how he and many others manipulate the blogs and from there the major media. Everyone, except perhaps the end user, along the way gets what they want.

The online world has returned to the day of yellow journalism like it was 100 years ago. The most sensational headlines of those days sold the most papers on the street. It wasn’t until the transition of the subscription model that newspapers became somewhat trusted news sources. The subscription model of blogs and online news have been, at best, struggling and the quality is corresponding poor. Because sensationalism gets page views and page views mean advertising money, sensationalism wins over thoughtful analysis and thorough, accurate presentation of facts.

Getting back to anger. You see this in the gun rights battle. Both sides use anger to motivate their followers and raise money.

Any blogger who is even quasi-serious or anyone who is concerned about principles and truth in the news should read this book. It will not only open your eyes but it also enables those who care more about the ends than the means to better reach their desired ends.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Roberta X

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Maybe we are just little, and governments are huge.  That doesn’t mean we should make it any easier for them to do bad things than it already is.

Roberta X
October 14, 2015
Okay, Let’s Take This “Get Rid Of The Guns” Thing One Step At A Time
[Roberta has some good points.

I would also like to suggest people look at the numbers.—Joe]

SAFE act

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The 2nd Circuit Court upheld the NY “SAFE Act 2013” last week. Bummer. They said that NY could ban certain arms, prohibit private transfers, etc. On the one hand, that really sucks for the people of NY, another in a long line of suckage. Oh, well, I don’t live there, and I’m never planning too. And it sets a circuit court precedent that specific guns can be banned. On the other hand, it was passed so fast, and is so broad, it’s likely to get appealed to the Supreme Court, and it’s also likely to get taken up.

High risk appeal. If we win, it’s big. If we lose, it’s HUGE.

Interesting times.

Quote of the day—Bacon @Baconmints

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You can be tough, you can be brave or you can buy a bunch of guns like a scared little coward. Your call. #tinycockclub #bokbok #fuckthenra

Bacon @Baconmints
Tweeted on December 23, 2014
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Via a Tweet from BFD‏ @BigFatDave.—Joe]

Quote of the day—rickn8or

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Suppressors ought to be regulated like holsters and scopes.

rickn8or
October 23, 2015
Comment to Hearing Protection Act
[Be careful what you wish for. There are two solutions to the problem as stated.—Joe]

Quote of the day—bayo0786‏ @heyoyayo

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@wallsofthecity Of course we want to take your guns.  And like every other liberal goal over the past 50 years, we will be successful.

bayo0786‏ @heyoyayo
Tweeted on October 22, 2015
[What this guy doesn’t understand is there are lines which must not be crossed.

What you need to understand is that you must never let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Hearing protection act

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Unlikely to pass, but a good idea none the less. The bill would remove the $200 tax stamp on suppressors and make them a normal 4473 item handled by FFLs the way a firearm would be as far as the FedGov is concerned.

Yes, I know they shouldn’t be regulated at all beyond a basic buyer-beware consumer-safety sort of “do they work as advertised” thing, but it would be another step in the right direction. It would also help the economy by increasing demand for something domestically-made.

Quote of the day—David Kopel

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The 2nd Circuit took the opposite approach: Guns that are more accurate and easier to use for “deadly” purposes (whether against home invaders or while hunting) are exactly the guns that may be banned. This is in tension with Heller.

By the 2nd Circuit’s reasoning, inferior guns that are less accurate, less comfortable to use and less useful supposedly enjoy greater constitutional protection. That is a Bizarro Second Amendment.

David Kopel
October 21, 2015
2nd Circuit upholds N.Y. and Conn. arms bans; contradicts Heller and McDonald
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Mike Monteiro @Monteiro

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We are going to take your guns and melt them into whatever fucked up weird machinery is used to harvest kale.

Mike Monteiro @Monteiro
Tweeted on October 20, 2015
[Molon labe Mike.

Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Brief of NRA

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Incredibly, Highland Park exempts devices that would otherwise be prohibited as a “barrel shroud” if they do not allow “the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned.”

BRIEF OF NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. AS AMICUS CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONERS FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
August 28, 2015
[This, perhaps more than anything tells us what we need to know about the anti-gun mindset. If you shoot a gun, for whatever reason, they want the shooter to be at risk of being hurt.

This is like demanding that cars must not have doors or seat belts. If they can’t ban all of them then they want to ban all but the ones which put the users at high risk of injury. These are very sick people and should be dealt with accordingly.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Gerald Lee Wolters

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Now the Commander in Chief needs to make these laws Federal with an executive order. Full stop. One nation one policy. Australia y’all.

Gerald Lee Wolters
October 19, 2015
Comment to Federal Court Upholds Bulk Of Gun Control Laws Passed In Wake Of Newtown
[These people live in an alternate reality where they believe we are all subjects of a king or dictator.

Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

And their point is?

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled:

As to the ban on large-capacity magazines, the court upheld it by again pointing to Newtown and the shooter’s ability to fire “154 rounds in less than five minutes” — an observation that was in line with the lower court’s finding that “large-capacity magazines result in more shots fired, persons wounded, and wounds per victim than do other gun attacks.”

Using that criteria they could also ban six shot revolvers as well as ten round magazines. And I expect, single shot guns. As that is only about one shot every two seconds. Certainly two round magazines would be fail their criteria.

Here you see 12 shots from a revolver in under three seconds:

Hence, using a revolver, people could shoot 154 rounds in less than 40 seconds. Okay, not everyone is Jerry Miculek. And this was pretty much a peak achievement for Jerry. Even multiplying Jerry’s time by a factor of three, which brings it into the range of mere mortals, results in the 154 rounds being fired in less than a minute and a half.

Here I demonstrate shooting 35 rounds in less than 16 seconds with 10 round magazines even though I had to clear a malfunction:

This means one could easily fire 154 rounds in less than a minute and a half.

What these people don’t realize is that the size of the magazine isn’t the critical part of putting a lot of bullets on target. It’s the target acquisition time. If the number of shots fired per unit time were something they were seriously going to restrict they would have to ban cartridges.

Of course they would consider that a valid and worthy goal. But it would be ignored and just as easily circumvented as their existing ban on standard capacity magazines.

So, what’s their point? I have to conclude Ayn Rand has their number.

Quote of the day—obvious-if-you-read-carefully

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The problem are guns being stolen from these wannabes who watch the “Terminator” movie and have too small wee wees and run down and blow their wad on the cool blue steel of a handgun then take it home so they can stroke it and fantasize.  Of course, not bothering to save any money for the gun safe or even a trigger lock.  Then a year later when they are bored of it, they leave it on the dresser in plain sight and the bad guy spies it through the window and breaks in and takes it.

Then a year later the gun is used to kill someone.

What universal checks allow us to do is track the gun back to small wee wee guy who made it available to the criminal element by his irresponsible ownership of it.

obvious-if-you-read-carefully
April 1, 2015
Comment to Gun background check hearing: Does bill close loophole or create unenforceable law?
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

One might also ask this bigot if he has a citation for the research backing up his claim that this scenario is “the problem” and how background checks would improve his imagined scenario.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Steve

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Drones are another word for “skeet”.

Steve
October 17, 2015
Comment to In Post-Debate Push, Hillary Clinton Highlights Gun Divide With Bernie Sanders
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Rev. John Buttrick

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We need the president, Congress, governors, councils, legislators and citizens to discuss the options for creating a society where gun ownership is an exception not the norm.

…

∎ We can protect our homes with a network of good neighbor communications and an attitude of welcome to the stranger.

∎ We can learn to participate in and strengthen our democratic society as the way to prevent government from becoming oppressive. (No amount of home firepower can protect us today from a rogue government army in possession of assault weapons, rockets, tanks, drones and overwhelming air power).

∎ We can provide gun rentals at firing ranges for the sport of target shooting.

∎ We can re-evaluate the ethics of hunting for sport while permitting the use of basic rifles and shotguns for hunting food and for predatory animal control in rural settings.

∎ We can work for an economic system that is fair for all people, narrowing the gap between the wealthy and the poor.

∎ We can advocate against all forms of racism and cultural bias.

Gun legislation and/or constitutional amendments may be far in the future. But political, religious and social leaders and every citizen can begin to cultivate a climate that discourages gun possession.

Rev. John Buttrick
October 17, 2015
My Turn: The path to end gun violence
[He’s delusional and/or hopelessly naïve.

But the one thing you want to remember about this is that you should never let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Dan Gross

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This is not a negotiation with the NRA. We don’t negotiate with terrorists.

Dan Gross
President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
October 14, 2015
Gun control group bashing Sanders, Chafee
[H/T .

And what is the typical way of dealing with terrorists?

This is what they think of you and the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms. They want you in prison or dead for defending and/or exercising a constitutionally protected right.—Joe]