Quote of the day—Charles Krauthammer

Posted on by

Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic — purely symbolic — move in that direction. Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.

Charles Krauthammer
April 5, 1996
Disarm the Citizenry. But not yet
Originally in The Washington Post on April 5. The above link is in the Seattle Times from April 8, 1996.
[Via email from Ry who said, “Lots of qotd material here”. This was like saying, “Nukes make lots of dust.”

This was part of the overreaching the anti-gun people did in the mid and late 1990s. They were on a roll in September 1994 and thought they were unstoppable and openly announced their intentions. They thought there were no obstacles. They thought at most there were just speed bumps causing them to slow down on their way to total domination. And they were wrong.—Joe]

The argument I would like someone to make

Posted on by

There has been a fair amount of discussion recently about the Illinois attorney general ruling that the names of people with Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) cards can be made public.

Some people are saying the release increases the risk a gun owner will have their home broken into by a criminal wanting a gun. Others say it gives a different type of criminal knowledge that they are unlikely to be shot at if they break in while the resident are home. Still others point out less obvious risks and concerns:

“There is some prejudice against gun owners and a perspective employer says, ‘This guy who shows up is on a list, I’m not going to hire him, I don’t want a gun nut,’” he said.

“It kind of resembles the sex offender registry in many ways,” he said. “To create this list feels like the same thing.”

I think those are all valid arguments. But I have not seen anyone make the argument that I would like made.

What if the state required all active homosexuals to be registered and there were HID cards issued? What would the reaction be if someone wanted those people’s names released? I can just hear the Brady Campaign screaming now (they did it before—check out the update), “It’s not the same thing!” Perhaps being a homosexual isn’t something under an individuals control but actually engaging is homosexual acts arguably is something under individual control. If you want to be active as a homosexual sign up for your card and then be outed by the state. After all, don’t your neighbors have a right to know? And don’t parents have a right to know those sort of things about their children’s teachers?

Okay, they are probably right. Being a homosexual isn’t a very good analogy to being a gun owner—because being an active homosexual isn’t specific enumerated right protected by the U.S. Constitution. It’s more like being Catholic, Jewish, or Muslim since exercising the religion of your choice is also a specific enumerated right protected by the U.S. Constitution. Shall we have a little discussion about requiring Jews to get their ID cards from the state and then being outed to people who claim “a need to know who their neighbors are”?

Layers of editorial oversight

Posted on by

It could be this was ignorance of the investigators or a communications error somewhere along the way but a fact checker or someone should have caught this before it went public:

When investigators arrived they found shell casings from a .380 magnum and an AK-47 at the scene in the 3900 block of North Lansing Place.

A “.380 magnum”? That would be something like a 9mm Lugar, right?

Quote of the day—Matt Taibbi

Posted on by

I’m beginning to think that pushing for gun control is a good idea, if only because there’s nothing else that will nauseate and terrify Tea Partiers more. To me, the right-wing fascination with guns is such an obviously Freudian phenomenon that it’s almost embarrassing; real and very justified fears of creeping political impotence, idiotically and self-defeatingly expressed in passionate defense of their right to shoot themselves in tragic domestic accidents. Going after Republicans’ gun rights has always seemed to me needlessly provocative and cruel, sort of like removing the tinfoil helmet your local schizophrenic thinks is protecting him from space rays.


But now the paranoia has now gone so far, it’s just too tempting not to tweak. There’s got to be some way to pursue a new gun-control law that would maximally freak out this growing population of people who literally sleep with their guns at night.


How about a new law requiring all registered handgun owners to wear white Kevlar Clockwork Orange-style jockstraps? Or how about a new campaign – and this one I actually like – in which all of us who do not have guns voluntarily send in letters to the ATF, cheerfully informing them of our unarmed status (“Dear Government Agent: In case you were keeping a database of such information…”).


Matt Taibbi
March 10, 2011
Time For Gun Control — If Only to Tweak the Tea Party
[I wonder what Taibbi would think of laws requiring journalist to be licensed and registered?


Gun owners need to know what these people think of them and Taibbi comes through. Not only is Taibbi adhering to Markley’s law he is willingly exposing his bigotry.—Joe]

The ATF can do some things right

Posted on by

According to CBS the ATF Chief Public Affairs officer sent out a memo early on the week of February 28th to all their “Public Information Officers” with the instructions:

Please make every effort for the next two weeks to maximize coverage of ATF operations/enforcement actions/arrests at the local and regional level. Given the negative coverage by CBS Evening News last week and upcoming events this week, the bureau should look for every opportunity to push coverage of good stories

It just so happens I have an subscription to some of the ATF news updates. For the entire month of February I received seven updates. During the three days of February 28, March 1, and March 2 I received eight updates. Here is a typical update.

So it appears they have Public Information Officers that can deliver when asked to. It’s good to know our government has quality people in their employee even if it is in the spin department. If they could only engage the “wash” cycle before the “spin” we would all be much better off.

Quote of the day—Bill O’Connor

Posted on by

A golf course is the willful and deliberate misuse of a perfectly good rifle range.

Bill O’Connor
From Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries
Vol. 3, No. 6
25 April 1995
[This came to mind because of a comment I saw at Roberta’s place.

That is the way I see it too. I’m a probably reminded of this far more frequently than most because there is golf course close enough to my hidden underground bunker that I could land spit wads into it if I went topside.—Joe]

It’s not paranoia when they really are out to get you

Posted on by

CBS is reporting that the ATF has been deliberately letting gun runners take guns into Mexico since 2008! I find that very interesting.

If I were a paranoid person I would be tempted to say it was all an elaborate plan to justify making U.S. gun laws more restrictive to “solve” the problem the U.S. government created.

Gun Control Campaigners

Posted on by

Yesterday Say Uncle posted about a cable network post for “Gun Control Campaigners” all over.

We can add, to no ones surprise, Boston to the list of places they are advertising.

I thought the phrase “Gun Control Campaigners” was a little odd. In our country those people would typically be called “Gun Control Activists”.

A little bit of Bing searching hints that phrase is common in the U.K.

Quote of the day—Handgun Control Inc.

Posted on by

Handgun Control is pleased to announce its participation in FreedomChannel.com, a new nonpartisan political internet website. FreedomChannel.com, which launches on November 8, features the first-ever video-on-demand issue statements from presidential candidates and representatives of advocacy groups.

Handgun Control President Bob Walker is featured in the FreedomChannel.com’s “Views-on-the-News” video-on-demand program, speaking about the need for common-sense measures to reduce gun violence in this country.

Handgun Control Inc.
November 4, 1999
HANDGUN CONTROL PARTICIPATES IN LAUNCH OF NEW POLITICAL INTERNET SITE, FREEDOMCHANNEL.COM
[With Handgun Control, now The Brady Campaign, being featured on “Freedom Channel” it is no surprise FreedomChannel.com no longer exists. They either had crap for brains attempting to associate freedom with an anti-freedom organization or it collapsed from the weight of the irony.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Violence Policy Center

Posted on by

The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today released The Endgame, a report detailing three areas that must be reformed within the gun industry in order for a settlement of lawsuits filed by major cities against the industry to have any significant effect in reducing firearms violence. Public statements by some involved in ongoing talks with the gun industry indicate a growing desire to quickly reach a settlement.


…


A meaningful settlement must include:



  1. Restrictions on Gun Industry Products

    • Stop innovating for lethality, i.e., developing products, especially handguns, for a combination of high caliber and concealability.
    • Close the loopholes by which assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines, supposedly already banned, continue to flow onto the market.
    • Agree to recall products with safety related defects causing death or serious injury to consumers, as well as develop a system to identify and remedy these defects.

  2. Reform How Guns Are Distributed

    • Accept independent standards to weed out those distributors and retailers engaging in illegal or negligent sales. For example, manufacturers should include in their agreements with wholesalers provisions prohibiting sales to “kitchen-table” gun dealers, who operate out of their homes, and dealers who sell at gun shows. Also, a system for spotting dealers who sell a disproportionate number of crime guns is needed.

  3. Changes in Marketing Practices

    • Immediately cease marketing campaigns aimed at children, as well as fear-based marketing strategies, such as using predictions of Y2K social collapse to drive up gun sales. Also, the industry should stop making misleading and unwarranted self-defense claims in their advertising.

Violence Policy Center
December 21, 1999
New VPC Report Lays Out Minimal Terms for Settlement of Litigation Against Gun Industry
[In 1999 they still had fair amount of power. Probably not as much as they thought they had but still they had inflicted a fair amount of damage in the recent past and wanted to get another whack in before Clinton left office. The problem was that they overreached and struck out. We won that fight as a result of their grasping for something beyond their reach.


This was the same problem the Brady Campaign had with initiative 676 in Washington State in 1997. The local Washington Ceasefire anti-gun organization wanted to put a much more limited and realizable initiative on the ballot. But the Brady Campaign said they would provide support only if was made much broader. They bit off more than they could chew and lost 29% to 71%.


I remember the concealed carry fights of 15+ years ago. There were a lot of people that wanted “Vermont Carry” rather than licensing. It was believed there was no path to “Vermont Carry” once we had “Shall Issue” carry. It was believed that we were giving up too much by allowing the government to license a right. That we now appear to be on a roll to “Constitutional Carry” in many states proves that fear was unfounded. We are winning because we were willing to accept what we could get rather than what we believed was due to us.


There is something I learned in chess a long time ago which holds true in the gun games I play and it’s true in politics as well . It’s more important to not lose than it is win. Let the other guy take the chances and you win when they screw up.—Joe]

Range time

Posted on by

I have been meaning to zero my iron sighted AR for years.It was good enough to hit 7 inch targets at 20 yards or less most of the time but not good enough for anything close to precision work—even for something with iron sights. This was the reason I asked Barron to shoot the opening fireball at Boomershoot 2010.

I finally took it to the range today and got it zeroed and I tested several old magazines that had been laying around in my gun case, on my reloading bench or other random places. I threw two 20 round magazines with bad feed lips away (will that appease the Brady Campaign for a day or two?).

After I got it zeroed I did a little offhand practice. I need to practice that more because my arms got tired too quickly. But my hits were good enough considering the circumstances.

These were fired offhand from 24 yards (laser rangefinder) away at a rate of about one round every two seconds:

WP_000133Web2011

These were fired offhand from 24 yards away at a rate of about one round every second:

WP_000134Web2011

I had a tendency to jerk the trigger on that gun a little bit. I think it is because my arms would get tired and I would try to get the shot off when the sights would wander over the correct aiming point.

Quote of the day—rfkolbe

Posted on by

Handguns are a menace to society and whenever sanity returns to our courts, we will ban them.

rfkolbe
March 6, 2011
Comment to Gun rights groups to test political strength–Concealed carry debate picks up steam with testimony before Illinois House committee this week
[Do not think for a second that our opponents merely want “reasonable regulation”. For them “common sense” is a code phrase with a very clear meaning.—Joe]

Not total, just 90%

Posted on by

Ry says he is not a total bastard. This is true. But I sometimes have to scowl at some of his ideas. You have no idea what his mind is capable of. Ice cubes and water hoses are just hints of some of the things he has suggested for Boomershoot “improvements”.

I’m surprised

Posted on by

I would have thought the only reasons the school district thought they could get away with this is they either never heard of the First Amendment or thought it did not apply to them. If it were a private school I would agree they have the power to make and enforce such rules. But they should not have the power if they are a public school:

So when Webber was told to surrender the Confederate flag that flies from the CB antenna on his pickup truck – or be suspended from his job driving a school bus in Talent – the choice was easy.

Webber chose his flag.

The article goes on to say:

Courts have upheld the right of schools to limit display of the Confederate flag on their property. Last November, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of a Tennessee school district to suspend a student for wearing a T-shirt and belt buckle bearing the image of the Confederate battle flag.

How about bans on the wearing of the U.S. flag? Or the burning of the U.S. flag?

Can they also ban the wearing of symbols of torture (aka Christian cross)? Keep in mind burning crosses were also used for racist activities.

That is a very slippery slope the courts are stepping onto.

I’m surprised the courts took this path. I hope they get this straightened out with a more freedom of expression tolerant ruling.

[Off topic a little bit but the first website I saw which had a post on this topic failed the test with my Black Listed News Sites utility. This was the first time I had actually got a hit on something I was going to post about. I did a search for more articles on the topic and found this one which was a much better article anyway.]

Quote of the day—Melissa Me

Posted on by

The “gun nuts” don’t think anything is going to happen really. They haven’t thought about anything. They are just wackos and conspiracy theorists who need a cause to latch onto. They need a justification for their paranoia. It’s like a religion to them.

Melissa Me
March 5, 2011
Comment to What do American gun nuts think will happen if the government takes the guns away?
[I think the more correct answer to the question is that there would soon be a new government in town.

But getting back to Melissa Me’s answer. I think I’m okay with her position. Religion is protected under the First Amendment. So that means she thinks the specific enumerated right to keep and bear gun is doubly protected by the Bill of Rights. I think I can live with that regardless of what her personal opinion of me is.—Joe]

Interesting question

Posted on by

I love exploring questions like this. “Common sense” laws that nearly everyone agrees with end up being in conflict with each other:

The Oregon Supreme Court Thursday debated whether a state statute is at odds with federal law in a case involving a Medford marijuana patient who was denied a concealed weapons permit.

Appearing before nearly 200 law school students, the seven justices convened at Willamette University College of Law in Salem and focused on whether the statute conflicts with the intent of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968.

Quote of the day—Elbert Hubbard

Posted on by

So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private individuals will occasionally kill theirs.

Elbert Hubbard
[This is an appealing notion. And I’m pretty sure it is subscribed to by a large number of people. However I think it is exceedingly naïve. Examples are not the sole guide to future behavior.—Joe]

Guarding against Reasoned Discourse

Posted on by

I ran across a blog post advocating for the banning of normal capacity magazines today. I left a comment. It immediately showed up but I fear he might engage in some “Reasoned Discourse” so I’m posting my comment here as well:

It’s called a Bill of Rights. Not a Bill of Needs.

There are probably 100 million or more of these normal capacity magazines of greater than 10 round capacity in private hands in the U.S. Because they are “in common use” these magazines are protected by the Heller Decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Repealing the common use test would require a new ruling from the Supreme court.

Brain scans detect predisposition for criminal behavior

Posted on by

The pointer to this article came via email from Chris M. who says, “I recommend that this be tested first on government employees who carry guns and on those who give them orders.”

Several areas of the brain have been shown to be implicated with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), commonly known as psychopathy or sociopathy. The frontal cortex is the large part of your brain that is responsible for higher reasoning and behavioral traits, and is one of the areas that has been looked at. It’s smaller than normal in individuals with ASPD. Although there is a difference in crime rates between men and women, 77 percent of that difference goes away once you control for frontal cortex volume.

Dysfunction or abnormalities in other brain regions have also been associated with higher rates of crime and ASPD. The septum pellucidum is a region of brain tissue that separates the brain’s fluid-filled spaces, called ventricles. During fetal development, there is an opening inside this tissue that usually closes up within the first few months after birth. Individuals for whom this doesn’t happen have higher rates of arrest and conviction, and score higher for ASPD.

A key center of emotion activity in the brain, the amygdala, is another important region, and a study comparing ASPD and normal brains found deformations and a significant reduction in volume in the ASPD cohort. These were centered on the basolateral nucleus, which is responsible for fear conditioning. This suggests that one possible source of differences (or one of several interweaving mechanisms) is that ASPD-affected individuals don’t form the same sort of response to fear as normal people.

Campus carry on the move in Idaho

Posted on by

Via email from Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance (I’m on the Board of Directors):

From: Michael C. Brown
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 1:44 PM
Subject: Alert: Campus Carry Reform on the move!

Shooters:
 
The Idaho House State Affairs committee voted 16-3 to print H222 which will clarify that the colleges and universities can only regulate firearms in dorms. Currently the U of I and other state colleges and universities have policies that ban all firearms from campus, even ones stored in a private automobile. Some colleges even restrict off-duty and retired law enforcement officers from carrying on their campuses. This much needed legislation was drafted by Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance in conjunction with Idaho Students for Concealed Carry. This will probably come up for a full hearing next week– we’ll keep you informed!
 
Mike
 
Michael C. “Mike” Brown
Executive Director/General Counsel
Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance
208 835-3737
208 835-3744 Fax
www.idahossa.org

This is particular important to me because I have a daughter (with a concealed weapons license) attending the University of Idaho and frequently walks to and from classes from our home a mile or so off campus.