Month: February 2013

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Mexico Wants A Registry Of US Border State Gun Owners?

February 19, 2013 by 5 Comments

When I first read the story in The Blaze saying that the Mexican government wants the United States to compile a registry of all firearms owned in the Southwest border states, I had to check the date to make sure it wasn’t April 1st. The Mexicans believe such a registry will make it easier to track firearms found at crime scenes in Mexico.

The story originated at the website InSightCrime which track organized crime in the Americas. From their story published in January:

Mexico’s Congress voted to formally ask the United States Senate to create a registry of all commercialized firearms in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Although the motion will have little impact in the US, it shows the gun control issue continues to resonate on both sides of the border.

The measure was approved January 9 by Mexico’s Permanent Commission, the government body that meets when the Senate and the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, is in recess.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) senator who introduced the proposal said it was intended to make it easier to trace guns used in violent attacks, reports Mexican newspaper Informador.

KPHO – CBS 5 in Phoenix – followed up on this story and asked Arizonans what they thought of it. As you can well imagine, not much.

CBS 5 – KPHO

As to my opinion on the Mexican government’s request, I would suggest they track the firearm diversions from their own army as well as those coming from their southern border.

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Another Politician Named Joe

February 19, 2013 by

After watching the testimony of Colorado State Rep. Joe Salazar (D-Thornton) concerning concealed carry on campus and rape, I couldn’t help but think that the next thing out of his misogynist mouth would be, “and if it is gonna happen anyway, just lie there and enjoy it.”

Evidence and experience do not matter to these people. Colorado State University has had concealed carry on campus for years without problems. It is obvious that concealed carry on campus is only a problem when it impacts the flagship located in the People’s Republic of Boulder and not that “cow college” located on the Front Range.

H/T Firearms Policy Coalition

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Could You Slant The Poll Wording Just A Bit More?

February 18, 2013 by 6 Comments

The Colorado State House passed their standard capacity magazine ban by a vote of 33 to 31. Every Democrat save three voted for HB 1224.

This led the Denver Post to set up an on-line poll asking whether or not Magpul should follow through on their promise to leave the state if HB 1224 is enacted into law. It asks, “If Colorado passes legislation banning the possession of high-capacity gun magazines, should Colorado-based manufacturers of such magazines leave the state?”

Look at the language of the Yes vote:

Yes. Let them carry through with their recent threats to leave. Colorado doesn’t need them here.

Could you slant it any more than this?

Now look at the language of the No vote in the poll:

No. HB 1224 makes it clear they could still legally produce high-capacity magazines to sell elsewhere, and Colorado needs the jobs.

Now think about that – if the legislature really believes a product is so dangerous and so injurious to the public safety that it must be banned in the state, then why on Earth would you allow it to be produced and then put into interstate commerce?

As the Republican Minority Leader noted:

House Minority Leader Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, said it was “absolutely inconsistent” for Democrats to have added an amendment to the bill in an attempt to keep Erie -based gun magazine manufacturer Magpul from leaving the state. The amendment says manufacturers could still make high-capacity magazines for out-of-state sale.

“Apparently, they (high-capacity magazines) are not instruments of destruction when they’re purchased outside the borders of Colorado,” Waller said.

 Unless a few Democrats in the State Senate show some spine and defeat the bill, Magpul will be moving. If I were an industrial recruiter in another state, I’d be putting my package together right now. It really is a sad state of affairs in the Centennial State.

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Which Is Worse – Possessing Kiddie Porn Or A New 8-Round Magazine? (Corrected)

February 18, 2013 by 4 Comments

If you answered “Kiddie Porn” to the question posed in the headline, you are an objective, rational person. If you answered “an 8-round magazine”, you might be a member of the New York State Assembly or State Senate.

Arma Borealis has a very interesting post up that shows how New York State criminal statutes treat such crimes as possessing child pornography, arson, rape, riot, and negligent homicide. They all are classed as a lower-degree offense than the possession of a new greater than 7-round magazine produced after the enactment date of the NY SAFE law. That law treats the magazine possession as a Class D felony.

I just shake my head in disgust at the misplaced priorities of Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and the state legislators in New York.

CORRECTION: As much as I’d like to believe that the gun prohibitionists in the New York Assembly and State Senate made possession of a greater than 8-round magazine a Class D felony, that is incorrect. Miguel at the Gun Free Zone corrected me on that. It is either a Class B or Class A misdemeanor depending on whether it is a first or subsequent offense and whether it was possessed inside or outside the home. The section of the law in question is below.

I should take this as a reminder to check and double check something that is just too good to be true.

UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF A LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICE IS A
   40  CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.
   41  S 265.37 UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF CERTAIN AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES.
   42    IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON TO KNOWINGLY POSSESS  AN  AMMUNITION
   43  FEEDING  DEVICE THAT SUCH PERSON LAWFULLY POSSESSED BEFORE THE EFFECTIVE
   44  DATE OF THE CHAPTER OF THE LAWS OF TWO  THOUSAND  THIRTEEN  WHICH  ADDED
   45  THIS SECTION, THAT HAS A CAPACITY OF, OR THAT CAN BE READILY RESTORED OR
   46  CONVERTED  TO ACCEPT MORE THAN SEVEN BUT LESS THAN TEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNI-
   47  TION, WHERE SUCH DEVICE CONTAINS MORE THAN SEVEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION.
   48    IF SUCH DEVICE CONTAINING MORE THAN  SEVEN  ROUNDS  OF  AMMUNITION  IS
   49  POSSESSED WITHIN THE HOME OF THE POSSESSOR, THE PERSON SO POSSESSING THE
   50  DEVICE  SHALL, FOR A FIRST OFFENSE, BE GUILTY OF A VIOLATION AND SUBJECT
   51  TO A FINE OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS, AND FOR A SECOND OFFENSE, BE GUILTY OF
   52  A CLASS B MISDEMEANOR AND SUBJECT TO A FINE OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS AND A
   53  TERM OF UP TO THREE MONTHS IMPRISONMENT.
   54    IF SUCH DEVICE CONTAINING MORE THAN  SEVEN  ROUNDS  OF  AMMUNITION  IS
   55  POSSESSED  IN  ANY  LOCATION  OTHER  THAN THE HOME OF THE POSSESSOR, THE
   56  PERSON SO POSSESSING THE DEVICE SHALL, FOR A FIRST OFFENSE, BE GUILTY OF
       S. 2230                            25                            A. 2388

    1  A CLASS B MISDEMEANOR AND SUBJECT TO A FINE OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS AND A
    2  TERM OF UP TO SIX MONTHS IMPRISONMENT, AND  FOR  A  SECOND  OFFENSE,  BE
    3  GUILTY OF A CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.

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I Am Corrupt

February 18, 2013 by 2 Comments

I am corrupt. That is, if your definition of corruption extends to contributing time and money to pro-rights organizations and to pro-rights candidates. Unfortunately, in the fevered mind of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy it does.

In an taped radio interview with Bill Cameron of WLS Radio, McCarthy made just such assertions. The interview broadcast yesterday morning but the audio podcast of it has not yet been posted to the station’s website.

Reaction to McCarthy from the Illinois State Rifle Association was swift.



Chicago Police Superintendent McCarthy Crosses The Line

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Feb. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

Chicago’s embattled police superintendent dug himself deeper into a pit of controversy today by claiming that lawful firearm owners are agents of political corruption. Appearing on a Chicago Sunday morning talk show, superintendent Garry McCarthy expressed his conviction that firearm owners who lobby their elected representatives or who donate money to political campaigns are engaged in corruption that endangers public safety. McCarthy went on to express his belief that judges and legislators should rely on public opinion polls when interpreting our Constitution.

After totally dismissing the citizen’s right to redress grievances, McCarthy trained his constitutional wisdom on the 2nd Amendment. Despite recent court decisions to the contrary, McCarthy opined that the 2nd Amendment limits citizens to owning smooth-bore muskets. McCarthy went on to say that he believes that the 2nd Amendment supports mandatory liability insurance for firearm owners and the mandatory application of GPS tracking devices to civilian owned firearms.

” Garry McCarthy ‘s understanding of our Constitution barely qualifies him as a meter maid, never mind the chief of the nation’s third largest police department,” commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson . “What on earth would possess McCarthy to assert that constitutional rights should be meted out based on public opinion polls? Let’s not forget that public opinion polls once opposed a woman’s right to vote while it would be a safe bet that, at one time, polls would have shown lynching as an acceptable form of justice. It has been said that our Constitution exists to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. McCarthy’s view of our Constitution is dangerous and unbecoming of a civil servant.”

“McCarthy needs to understand that the lawful firearm owners of this state will continue to lobby their representatives and continue to support candidates who represent their interests,” continued Pearson. “If Garry McCarthy doesn’t like that, well that’s just too bad. If McCarthy is so interested in influence peddling, he should pop into some of the gin mills ringing the Illinois Capitol and count the ruddy red noses of taxpayer-funded lobbyists for the City of Chicago.”

The ISRA is the state’s leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. For more than a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.

By McCarthy’s definition, the intrusion of Mayor Bloomberg and his money into the Democrat primary to replace disgraced former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. must be anti-corruption. His ads only target former Rep. Debbie Halvorson due to her previous stance on gun control. I say previous stance as she has backtracked significantly from her former pro-gun rights stance. Nonetheless, she still is against any assault weapons (sic) ban.

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Only In Texas…

February 18, 2013 by 2 Comments

I was working on my travel arrangements for the NRA Annual Meeting in Houston when I came across this. I was pricing rental cars through Budget Rent-A-Car.

If you look closely, the cheapest vehicle is the Ford F-150 pickup truck. The rate for my intended rental period is $130 cheaper for the F-150 than for an economy car like the Chevy Aveo.

I love Texas!

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“With Bullets Designed To Inflict Maximum Damage”

February 18, 2013 by 3 Comments

All you hear from the gun prohibitionists and the talking heads in the media is how military-style weapons don’t belong on the streets due to the damage that they can inflict. Note they are talking about the cosmetics of the weapon and not really its lethality. However, by the way they characterize the AR-15, AK-47, and other magazine-fed semiautomatic rifles they are intentionally trying to confuse people into believing that these are exactly the same arms as used by the military. No matter that true select-fire arms are governed under the National Firearms Act and many such as the M-4 are unavailable except to the military or law enforcement.

The video below is part of the NRA’s Stand and Fight campaign. It features Jessie Duff’s appearance on Hannity in which she demonstrated the difference in size of holes created by the .223, the .30-06,  12 gauge shotgun slugs, and a 12 gauge load of No. 2 shot.

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ABA Second Amendment Roundtable

February 17, 2013 by

Attorney Bobbie Ross, chair of the American Bar Association Second Amendment Civil Rights Litigation Subcommittee, has announced that her subcommittee is having a roundtable discussion on Second Amendment issues this Wednesday. It will be conducted by conference call and you don’t have to be either a lawyer or a member of the American Bar Association to participate.


JOIN US WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

FOR A FASCINATING ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

OF SECOND AMENDMENT ISSUES!!!

In the wake of recent mass shootings, many have called for stricter regulations on firearms. What are the possibilities and legal limits of gun control in America? Where can or should lines be drawn, given the Second Amendment’s language regarding the right to bear arms? A panel of experts will shed light on issues of public safety, individual rights, mental health, and other issues raised by gun violence. Join us on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, from 1:30-2:30 p.m. eastern time. Learn the facts, and form your own conclusions.

The roundtable will be Q&A style. You can submit questions for the panelists via email to atty@bobbierossesq.com.

REGISTRATION LINK: https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=*BWNnaPppaWF9uvQoBdTAA

Panelists: Dave Kopel (Research Director of the Independence Institute; Associate Policy Analyst with the Cato Institute; and adjunct professor at Universtiy of Denver, Sturm College of Law), Nicholas Johnson (Fordham University, School of Law professor), Adam Winkler (UCLA School of Law professor), Ladd Everitt (Director of Communications of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence).

This has the potential to be very interesting. Though I have to say that the composition of the panel reminds me of the Sesame Street song, “One of these Things…”

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn’t belong?
If you guessed this one is not like the others,
Then you’re absolutely…right!

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MSNBC Recognizes Women Own Guns

February 17, 2013 by

In what is a surprisingly unslanted report from MSNBC, Kristen Dahlgren reports on women shooting and owning guns. Featured in the report was Natalie Foster of A Girl’s Guide to Guns who I think did an excellent job in framing the issues surrounding gun control.

This report needs to be seen and re-seen as it helps break the media stereotype of the average gun owner being a fat, middle-aged white guy with little education. 

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