Category Archives: Gun Rights

Quote of the day–David T. Hardy

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Madison’s very organization shows the right to arms was seen as an individual right and not as militia-related. Madison’s draft did not take the format with which we are today familiar, that of a numbered list of amendments following the Constitution. Rather, his draft designated where, within the Constitution, each provision was to be inserted.

For example, his provisions relating to the House of Representatives were to be inserted in Article I, Section 2. An unsuccessful proposal to forbid States to infringe the rights of conscience was to be inserted in Article I, Section 10, alongside its other “Restrictions Upon Powers of States.” Provisions relating to jury trial, grand juries, and appeals were to be placed in Article III.

Thus, if Madison had seen the future Second Amendment as militia-related, he would have designated its place next to the Militia Clauses in Article I, Section 8.

Instead Madison grouped it with freedom of speech, press, assembly and other individual rights, and designated their place in Article I, Section 9, right after “No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.” Madison’s arrangement is compelling evidence that he did not view the right to arms as a guarantee relating to States and militias; its militia reference was explanation, not an operative part of its guarantee.

David T. Hardy
Brief of amicus curiae, Academics for the Second Amendment
[Sometime this month the Supreme Court will settle “the question”. We know the correct answer. We’ve known it all along. We just had trouble convincing those bigots who didn’t want to confront reality. Nearly everyone expects the court to deliver us an easily wielded “clue by four” on at least this one point. I just hope we have the wisdom to use it correctly and not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.–Joe]

Neglegent Discharge

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I wrote this as a comment on thehighroad.org but figured it should have its own post.  Someone started a thread about NDs at gun shows (smells like an anti to me, akin to the standard MSM interview wherein the conservative guest is asked, “What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done?”)  Here’s my response:

I used to exhibit at gun shows. I always felt as safe at a gun show as anywhere else.  Much safer than some places I’ve been.  NDs at shows were always something you heard about, but never witnessed, kind of like Sasquatch and space aliens.

If you ever find yourself afraid for your life, running into a gun show would be a good choice if available.

If you’re worried about safety, don’t drive to a gun show though– you’re vastly more likely to be injured or killed during the drive to and from the gun show than while you’re there.  I suspect this would be true even if 3/4 of the people at the gun show were drunk and all the people on the roads that day were sober.

On that note; I go to my kid’s school football games (you know where this is going, right?) and at each and every game there is an ambulance, complete with paramedic crew, on location all during the game.

Ever seen an ambulance and crew on standby at a gun show? How about at a shooting match, where people are, you know, actually loading and firing guns?

Me neither.

Do NDs happen? Yes. Very, very rarely. Usually, they result in no injuries or serious property damage. Do people get killed falling down in their own homes?  Yes, and it is a more common occurrence.

Carry on.

When I was taking my NRA instructor courses last fall, a couple of the teachers gave several accounts of antis going to gun shows or gun classes and leaving loaded cartridges in places they don’t belong, trying to create an incident.  I have no doubt that this can happen– it could be seen as a variation on Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy, or whatever you call it when someone starts a building on fire and then hangs around to watch the spectacle.  It also demonstrates that other people’s safety is often the last thing on the mind of the anti gun bigot.

Quote of the day–Michael B. Minton

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The view that the right of armed self defense was a first law of nature both preceded enactment of the Constitution, and continued to prevail in the decades following its enactment. Shortly before the Revolutionary war commenced, Blackstone confirmed that every Englishman had the right of “arms for their defence,” which stemmed from “the natural right of resistance and self-preservation, when the sanctions of society and laws are found insufficient to restrain the violence of oppression.”

Michael B. Minton
Brief of Pink Pistols and gays and lesbians for individual liberty as amici curiae in support of respondent.

Quote of the day–Andrew L. Schlafly

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While the AAP Brief purports to defend the interests of children, in fact the gun is the best protector for the weak and vulnerable in society, as it removes any advantage held by a stronger aggressor. Victims who resist crime with a gun are only half as likely to be injured as those who put up no defense, and one fourth as likely to be injured as those resisting by other means. For centuries, the gun has been a family’s best defense against criminal attack, and the Second Amendment enshrines that essential safeguard in the Constitution. It is worth observing that “about half of all American homes contain a gun” and thus “burglars tend to avoid all occupied American homes.”

Andrew L. Schlafly
February 7, 2008
Brief for amicus curiae association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. in support of Respondent.
http://www.gurapossessky.com/news/parker/documents/07-290bsacAAPS.pdf

Firearms make you disreputable

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I”ve been saying they think of us as “gun n***ers”. More evidence via Ry at the Seattle Times from Times deputy business editor Rami Grunbaum:

Pawn X-Change, which expects revenues of $38 million this year, seeks to separate itself from the stereotype of the dingy and disreputable pawnshop. Power tools, guitars, TV and electronics — but no firearms — are carefully arrayed around a well-lit store staffed by cordial employees wearing company shirts.

What if the article, making the point about avoiding the dingy and disreputable sterotypes, said none of the pawnshop employees were Jews? Think about that Mr. Grunbaum.

Treat them as the bigots they are.

Reasonable restrictions

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The Brady Campaign supports the total ban on handguns and required disassembly or trigger locks on long guns in D.C. They insist they just want reasonable restrictions on firearms. They are a moderate group.

I suppose you could make that case. Especially since others want to ban the manufacture of toy guns:

She plans to go to Sacramento and lobby the Legislature for new gun control laws, including a ban on the manufacture of toy guns.

There is no such thing as a slippery slope. Move along, nothing to see here…

Alternate history

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Sebastian’s and Kevin’s posts reminded me of an alternate history. A sample:

How would today’s America be different if politician’s feared citizens,rather than citizen’s fearing their government?

Imagine, if you will, the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. Where individual rights meant something, and every citizen believed they had the right, nay, the duty, to stand up to any and all aggressors, foreign and domestic. You know, just like the Constitution says.

…

Government only does a few things. Doesn’t take much. Most folks just pay the bill once a year. Never amounts to more than a few hundred dollars. Just as it should be. Hell, most folks get resentful at that much. Makes sense, I guess, given we founded the damn country over a tax on tea.

Since then, government on this side of the pond hasn’t seen much sense in pissing off the people. Sure, some try now and then. There’s always some petty jerk who thinks he can tell someone else what to do. But they never last. Sure, folks put up with them for a while, just like you do with a rash or a runny nose.

But after a little while folks get tired of the whining and crying the petty jerks make when people won’t do what he figures they ought to. The petty ones get a little too uppity, and someone smacks him down. Sometimes, it takes only a little slap across the face to bring the petty jerks to their senses.

Sometimes, someone like old Carl grabs the rifle off the wall, slaps a full mag in, and says, “Time to teach these bastards a lesson.”

Damn, if that doesn’t work every time.

I like alternate histories. It’s fun stuff. I especially like some of the stories from Harry Turtledove. But that’s all fantasy stuff for recreation. When you get serious then I like what Henry Ford had to say:

I don’t know much about history, and I wouldn’t give a nickel for all the history in the world.  History is more or less bunk.  It is tradition.  We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinkers damn is the history we make today.

        Henry Ford

You can connect the dots for yourself.

Quote of the day–Renee L. Giachino

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Citing Miller for a proposition for which Miller does not stand, Petitioners make Miller falsely appear to establish a rule that it in fact does not, rendering the Second Amendment peculiar by defining “the people” to mean governmental entities. It is therefore critical that Second Amendment precedent be analyzed in a reasoned and rightful manner, and applied accordingly without any preconceptions.

Renee L. Giachino
February 11, 2008
Brief of amicus curiae Center for Individual Freedom in support of respondent in D.C. versus Heller.
[Sometime this month the Supreme Court is expected to announce it’s decision in this historic case. Until that announcement the QOTD will be from various briefs in the case.–Joe]

I wonder if the irony escapes them

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Under Civil Rights groups they support they list Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. I’m almost surprised the don’t list the KKK too. I’m certain one could make a better case that the KKK supports civil rights (of whites) more than the Brady Bunch supports civil rights for anyone. The Brady Bunch is like the KKK in a lot of ways.

Quote of the day–Chris Rock

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Gun control? We need bullet control! I think every bullet should cost 5,000 dollars. Because if a bullet cost five thousand dollar, we wouldn’t have any innocent bystander.

Chris Rock
[I love sick humor.–Joe]

Mental problems

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The first and only thing that comes to mind is mental problems when I read something like The Racist Origins Of the Second Amendment. Pure projection. The truth is gun control has racist origins. Here is just a small sample of the evidence:

Quote of the day–Michael Nutter

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We cannot have freedom, we cannot have safety as long as these types of weapons are on our streets.

Michael Nutter
Philadelphia Mayor
May 27, 2008
Mayor Nutter takes gun control fight to Harrisburg
[Nutter is refering to “assault weapons”. What Nutter doesn’t understand or, just as likely fully understands but thinks we won’t, is that if the government is allowed to restrict these firearms the people will have neither freedom nor safety. Just ask some of the worlds other beneficiaries of gun control. Gun control has never delivered the promises made to the common person, only to the tyrants.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Wayne LaPierre

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Senator McCain is the only one in the race that has a pro-gun record of any kind. I think the mouthing of a pro-Second Amendment stance by Senators Clinton and Obama and pandering to gun owners is an embarrassment and I don’t believe it will work.

Wayne LaPierre
May 13, 2008
Q & A with the NRA’s executive vice president–Gun-rights lobby to meet in Louisville this week
[The problem is that it doesn’t have to work with all gun owners. It just has to work with enough gun owners to win the election.–Joe]

Knife Rights

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Most people in the U.S. would offer you a shiny aluminum foil hat if you were to claim our knife rights are in danger. I know even the most enthusiastic supporters of gun control I have talked to express extreme skepticism when I have brought up the regulations on knives in the U.K. “That’s just silly”, they say. Yup. It is silly. But it’s also true. Today’s QOTD was just one hint of what is going on in the U.K.

And even if you are up to speed on the sad state of affairs in the U.K. one may reasonably claim we don’t need to worry about that in this country because the ninnies who would take away our knives must first take away our guns. That claim sounds reasonable but is it?

While at the NRA convention I stopped by a booth with an intriguing banner:

I barely spoke to them as I took a picture of their banner, picked up a business card, and hurried on. But I knew at the time it was going to be a blog post.

Visiting their website I discovered a link to this WSJ article: Deadly pocketknives become a $1 billion business. It’s every bit as one sided and Chicken Little like as any Brady Campaign media release.

So what about someone who claims we don’t need to worry about knives when we are at least holding our own in the trenches on the gun rights front? My response is, “They are flanking us.” What is going to be your response when some hysterical activist or legislator says, “We already outlaw tactical knives why can’t we get rid of the guns as well?”

So, beyond the obvious commercial airplanes and John McCain public appearances, where are our defensive knives currently restricted? You know that switchblade knives are outlawed in many jurisdictions and the public opinion on them is roughly equivalent to that of machine guns. That battle is essentially lost. I don’t know for certain on the “assault weapon” analog–the locking blade, one handed opening knives, but the WSJ article linked to above reports that Atlanta prohibits people from carrying pocket knives in public with blades longer than two inches. Yet, according to the article this isn’t restrictive enough. Knife Rights could do those of us who carry defensive knives and pro-freedom activists a big service by compiling a list of political jurisdictions that are hostile to people even defending themselves using even a knife.

Another thing Knife Rights could do is work for preemption at the state level to remove the patchwork of laws that might trip of a visitor to some city that has no idea Chicken Little clones have taken over the city council. It would also be nice to see some D.C. versus Heller like cases involving knives and citing either/both state and federal constitutional protections for the right to keep and bear arms.

Here is what the Knife Rights Foundation [501(c)(3)] and Knife Rights [501(c)(4)] organizations have as their mission statements:

Knife Rights Foundation is dedicated to:

  1. Encouraging safe and responsible use of knives and edged tools through education and outreach;
  2. Educating knife owners, public officials and the general public about the history of knives and edged tools;
  3. Educating knife owners, public officials and the general public about knife and edged tool related laws and regulations

Knife Rights is dedicated to:

  1. Providing knife and edged tool owners an effective voice to influence public policy and to oppose efforts to restrict the right to own, use and carry knives and edged tools;
  2. Encouraging safe, responsible and lawful use of knives and edged tools through education and outreach, enhancing positive perceptions of knives and edged tools and their owners and users;
  3. Encouraging the marketing of knives and edged tools in a responsible manner conducive to the organization’s goals;
  4. Cooperating with advocacy organizations having complimentary interests and goals;
  5. Providing knife and edged tool owners with services that they will find valuable in order to build membership to enable success in our primary objectives.

I wish them success not just because its the right thing to do but because they are defending my flank on the gun rights issue.

Quote of the day–Mark Lawson

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…the only solution is to try to drive knives from society. Already, stop-and-search squads have been put on the streets of London in a version of the contentious old “sus” laws. This, at least, is something practical that can be attempted: there is no good reason to carry blades.

Mark Lawson
May 16 2008
Weapons we can’t handle
[This is the path the anti-gun people want us to take. This is the future if the anti-gun bigots are allowed to succeed.–Joe]

Always Think Forfeiture resolution

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I have been wondering about this for a while and even asked a few people what was, if anything, going on. It turns out the case has been resolved. Not to my satisfaction but good enough. I would have preferred the ATF be disbanded and the guilty be given life sentences and sent to the prison labor lead mines to help reduce the cost of ammunition–but then I’m a perfectionist in cases like this.

Here is the best story on it I have found so far:

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is dumping the “Always Think Forfeiture” motto it’s used for more than a decade to help combat crime.

U.S. Rep. Bill Sali, R-Idaho, and others complained that multipurpose tools engraved with the slogan could be seen as encouragement to seize property, including guns, of law-abiding citizens.

The pocket tools were to be given to federal, state and local law-enforcement agents participating in the agency’s asset forfeiture training programs, as a reminder of one way to disrupt or dismantle criminal organizations.

None of the engraved tools, stored in the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., have so far been distributed. And now they won’t be, at least until the engravings have been removed.

The agency will no longer use the slogan on materials given out during its training programs, said Robert Browning, chief of ATF public affairs in Washington, D.C., adding it was never intended to undermine lawful gun rights.

Sali had said that the ATF “through its engraved motto, sends a message that these rights are secondary to the government’s apparent goal to ‘always’ seek forfeit of private property.”

The tools also included the words “ATF – Asset Forfeiture.”

Update: In the comments Jed points out the Idaho Stateman article. I have to agree it’s better because of this:

That changed March 19, when a blogger looking at ATF contracts on a government-purchasing database found an order for 2,000 Leatherman tool-kits engraved with the slogan.

The blogger wrote about it on www.freedomsight.net, and the issue took on a life of its own in the blogosphere. Gun owners and private property rights activists seized on the phrase as a sign that the agency was biased toward law-abiding gun owners.

As I said before, Jed did good. Real good.

Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day

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At the NRA convention last week I told several bloggers I was contemplating having a special Boomershoot for gun bloggers*. I have had time to think about this quite a bit more.

The following is tentative so if you have suggestions let me know before I finalize it in the next week or so.

Boomershoot 2009 is currently scheduled for Sunday April 26th with Friday and Saturday the 24th and 25th being the Precision Rifle Clinic. Nearly all of the gun bloggers who have never attended Boomershoot I have talked to expressed concern their long range rifle skills were deficient so I think participating in at least one day of the clinic is a good idea for them. Partially for this reason I have decided combining the gun blogger event with Boomershoot 2009 is a good idea.

What I think is one of the more interesting part of the event is the making of the targets prior to the event. We have repeatedly invited the mainstream media to observe and/or participate and only once had them accept. I’m guessing gun bloggers will be more inclined to take me up on this invitation. Hence I have decided to make Thursday April 23rd 2009 Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day. On this day gun bloggers will be given media credentials and a special behind the scenes tour of and participation in Boomershoot 2009. If the individuals involved want to actually mix explosives and package the targets they will need to fill out some paperwork at least a couple months in advance. This paperwork will be submitted to the ATF and if the ATF approves it these individuals will be allowed to actually make explosives and reactive targets. If individuals do not wish to submit the paperwork then they will still be allowed to observe target manufacturing and participate in all the other activities.

Other activities planned for Gun Blogger Day will include discussions of explosive chemistry, alternate materials for explosives, target detonation theory, fireball target construction, the history and future of Boomershoot, Boomershoot safety, Why Boomershoot, “entertainingly close” detonation of targets by the participants and almost any other safe and legal activity related to guns and explosives the participants can think of.

Do you want to blow something up? Toilets, laptop computers, and hard disk drives are just some of the things we have subjected to “Idaho Hardware Testing” (also sometimes called an Idaho Stress Test). If you have something you want subjected to Boomerite let me know and we’ll figure out how to make it happen safely. The only catch is that you need to clean up (or pay for) the mess afterward.

Gun bloggers who are attending Boomershoot for the first time will also get free admission to the main event on Sunday April 26th.

* For the purposes of this special offer a gun blogger is defined as someone who has an active blog with frequent posts about gun use or politics. “Active blog” means someone who has made 100 or more posts in the previous year as of April 1, 2009. This definition potentially and intentionally includes the anti gun blogs such as the Gun Guys and the Brady Blog. “Frequent posts about gun use or politics” will be defined at my whim on a case by case basis. Submit your blog to me for inclusion prior to April 1 and I’ll get back to you with my decision within a day or so.

Gun trace data for 2007 is available

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I haven’t looked at it much but the ATF trace data for 2007 is available here for those that have the time and the interest.

Bloomberg is an ignorant bigot

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An article by Joseph P. Tartaro (who I saw at the NRA Convention but didn’t talk to) spells out what many of us have suspected. Bloomberg is an ignorant anti-gun bigot and beyond that is willfully ignorant:

NSSF noted that perhaps the mayor’s insults stems from his self-professed ignorance of our nation’s firearms laws and regulations, business practices of firearms retailers and the duties of the ATF. “I don’t know what the law is and what procedures are,” responded the mayor to a deposition question on illegally purchased firearms, NSSF quoted him. “I have no knowledge of what appropriate safeguards are for a dealer to comply with the law or what standard practices are in the arms business,” they quoted him.

In the same deposition Mr. Bloomberg admitted he did not know that ATF conducted inspections of firearms retailers. “I didn’t even know they had inspections,” the bewildered mayor offered and Bloomberg also noted that he did not know what a Federal Firearms Transaction Record, commonly known as a Form 4473 was or a NICS background check.

A settlement between Red’s and ATF

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I would prefer the Feds ended up in jail and reimbursing Red’s for all expenses but I can’t complain a whole lot if this goes down as described:

An Idaho gun shop that went to federal court to keep the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from stripping it of its gun license has reached a tentative settlement with the government.

Attorneys on both sides told U.S. District Court Judge Mikel H. Williams on Wednesday that they had likely agreed on how to end the case.

Mark Geston, an attorney representing Terry and Ryan Horsley of Red’s Trading Post, said he could not yet release details, but said the proposal would allow the Twin Falls gun shop to continue operating.

“I think everybody’s reached a cooperative and constructive agreement,” Geston said Thursday. “The judge said to have it finalized in 10 days and we’ll just do our best to do that. The agreement allows Red’s Trading Post to continue as a gun shop in Twin Falls.”

I tried to check out Ryan’s blog but Blogger reports:

Sorry, the blog at redstradingpost.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

This is entirely speculation on my part but my guess is pulling the blog down is part of the settlement. Stepping even further into baseless speculation one could say it’s a sad day when you have to give up your 1st Amendment rights to exercise your 2nd Amendment rights.