Bloomberg’s Pet “Gun Violence” Researcher

You may have heard of Daniel Webster of Johns Hopkins University. He is the Bloomberg Professor of American Health and heads Johns Hopkin’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy. It is a research center within the Bloomberg School of Public Health. The name Bloomberg in all of this is because Michael Bloomberg has donated big time and continues to donate big time to the school and Webster’s research.

As you would suspect, Webster is no friend of gun owners, constitutional carry, or the Second Amendment.

The Complementary Spouse caught a story on NPR regarding the passage of permitless carry in Texas this past Wednesday. What caught her ear on the All Things Considered story was a comment by Webster that said, in essence, before violent armed criminals committed their acts of violence, most had been legal gun owners at one time. He blamed the loosening of gun laws for prodding them

Listen for yourself. The intro to Webster’s comments begin at the 1:15 mark in this short clip and it goes on from there.

By Webster’s reasoning, every criminal was a good kid at one time and every porn star was a virgin. If only those pesky gun rights advocates hadn’t convinced the evil Republicans into loosening the law then those formerly law abiding gun owners probably would not have committed their acts of violence.

That this argument is given any public forum makes me shake my head.

10 Potential Replacements For Wayne LaPierre

First off, this is satire. That said, some of them would be more likely to do a better job than Wayne LaPierre in running the NRA.

This suggested list comes from the Gun Cranks. They are Tom McHale, editor of American Handgunner, Brent Wheat, editor of Guns Magazine, and Roy Huntington, the retired publisher of both publications. They are gun guys who have had it with Wayne LaPierre’s grifter ways.

I have edited their discussion down to just their 10 potential replacement for Wayne.

Enjoy!

Liar! Liar! Pants On Fire!

Shannon Watts and Moms Demand Action tweeted out the following statement from David Chipman made before the Senate Judiciary Committee in their effort to have him confirmed.

Chipman’s main passion after leaving BATFE was to make as much money as possible and he didn’t care if he had to prostitute himself to do it. If he had to tell bald-faced lies in his testimony in various places, he didn’t care so long as the money kept rolling in.

As to fire, he knows a bit about that from his experiences in Waco.

Nilo Farms

Ducks Unlimited has produced a short film on the history of Nilo Farms which John Olin established outside of St. Louis. The film features his Labrador Retriever King Buck who not only won back to back national retriever field trial championships but was the only dog ever featured on a Federal Duck Stamp.

My first Lab was named Sam Spade after the detective and came from field trial stock. His grandfather Dude’s Double Or Nothin’ was the 1981 National Amateur Field Champion and his father was Snake Eyes Double Or Nothin’. Both are in the Retriever Hall of Fame. Sam was never field trialed but he was a damn good dog and I had him for 13 good years. I still miss him.

Twenty AGs Say No To Chipman

Attorneys general from 19 states have signed on to a letter from Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen opposing the confirmation of David Chipman to be Director of BATFE.

They call the possible confirmation of Chipman an “an attack” on the Second Amendment and say their oath to uphold the Constitution makes it impossible for them to support someone like him.

They go on to write:

The ATF has an important role to play in upholding the public safety of
communities around the country. Its agents deserve a director who will inspire
confidence from the people they serve. Given Mr. Chipman’s history of anti-gun
lobbying and political activism, Americans cannot be reasonably expected to believe
he will be an unbiased enforcer of current laws. As chief law enforcement or legal
officers in our respective states, we are concerned that Mr. Chipman will make
Americans less safe by diverting ATF resources to attack the rights of law-abiding
gun owners instead of cracking down on violent criminals and criminal
organizations.

I think it is rare to see attorneys general take such a stand against a nominee for a law enforcement position like this. I think if the nominee were someone like a former DA or former US Attorney who, while still probably anti-gun, had not made a small fortune by shilling for the gun control industry you would not have seen this.

You can read the letter in its entirety below.

05.25.2021 State Attorneys General Letter to US Senate Leadership by jpr9954 on Scribd

David Chipman Nomination Hearing Today

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing today on the nomination of David Chipman, Joe Biden’s slap in the face to gun owners, to be the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. As he is lumped in with a few other nominees for various positions, I’m not sure what time his nomination hearing will actually be held but the live stream starts at 10 am.

I expect Chipman to be asked fawning questions by Democrats such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and equally tough questions by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). I think the final outcome will be a split vote with all Democrats voting to pass his nomination to the floor and every Republican voting against it.

It goes without saying that you should have contacted your own senators before today to voice your opposition to Chipman. I have sent both personal emails and the auto-generated emails in opposition to Chipman whose nomination to head BATFE is the equivalent of nominating an avowed vegan to head the meat inspection division of the Ag Department.

If you live the states of West Virginia or Arizona, I hope you have been putting a lot of pressure on Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) to oppose the nomination. The Democrats haven’t done away with the filibuster yet but even if they go to the “nuclear option” there is some hope that one or both of these senators would vote against Chipman.

In the meantime, it is now time to start making the calls.

Grass Roots North Carolina released an alert aimed at North Carolinians which also suggests contacting Sen. Mitch McConnell. It includes a way to get around McConnell’s web form’s rejection of out-of-state comments.

THIS IS SERIOUS!! 
ATF NOMINEE CHIPMAN  HAS MADE MILLION+ LOBBYING AGAINST YOUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS
Act now, hearings start Wednesday

IF THE CHIPMAN CONFIRMATION IS ALLOWED TO PASS IT WILL SPELL DISASTER FOR YOUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS!
Joe Biden has found a special someone who hates your liberties as much as he does and wants to have that Waco Whacko head up the ATF or is it the “AFT” (to quote Biden). How could the Senate even consider confirming an anti-gunner to head up the ATF? SHOCKENINGLY CHIPMAN HAS MADE IN EXCESS OF A MILLION LOBBYING AGAINST YOUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS!!!

When Chipman champions “gun safety” the real meaning behind the lie is ‘no firearm protection from criminals for you’ indeed, Chipman’s advice for you in these dangerous times is to”buy stronger deadbolts for the exterior doors of your home”.    

Mr. Chipman (who worked as an ATF agent for 25 years)- ticks off each of the ‘take your firearms boxes’: he saddled up with Mike Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety (safety for criminals only).

To top it off Chipman is a Senior Policy Advisor for Gifford’s: Courage to Fight Gun Violence. What kind of a nut does Mr. Chipman have to be, to believe that the demoralized and defunded police will get to your home in time to save you in those precious seconds when death is at your door? He didn’t care about the children burned to death at Waco, no doubt he doesn’t care about your safety either. What kind of a nut would confirm someone who is against YOUR right to keep and bear firearms to head up the ATF?

A stronger deadbolt is a road bump to disaster if you have no means to protect yourself from the criminal kicking in your door-or breaking your window. 

A FIREARM IS A SHIELD NOT A SWORD! 

NOW IS THE TIME TO MAKE YOUR SENATORS AND SENATE MINORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL UNDERSTAND THAT  A VOTE TO CONFIRM CHIPMAN IS AN ANTI-GUN VOTE AND YOU WILL TREAT IT AS SUCH.  CHIPMAN MUST NOT BE CONFIRMED.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!
  The link below will take you to a website form. It is not an email address. Just click on the link and it will take you to the form.
Contact Thom Tillis using this link, and call him at 202-224-6342 and 919-856-4630.
Contact Richard Burr using this link, and call him at 202-224-3154 and 800-685-8916.

Call AND Contact Mitch McConnell: Use both his phone number (202-224-2541 in D.C. OR  (502) 582-6304 in his district) AND his web contact form:  https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactform 

Contact him REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU LIVE and defeat his web form’s attempt to reject out-of-state comments by entering the following in-state address: 601 W. Broadway, Room 630, Louisville, KY 40202.


PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO GRNC: Help us fight gun control while we promote Second Amendment principles. Please CLICK HERE to contribute. Bear in mind that GRNC is an all-volunteer organization, so you can be sure your donations are put to the best possible use. Any amount helps, and any amount is appreciated.
DELIVER THIS MESSAGE
Suggested Subject: Do Not Confirm David Chipman ATF Nominee
Dear Senator___________

I am contacting you today to demand that the Biden nominee for leading the ATF be rejected without compromise. David Chipman has no business leading an agency that has as it’s mission statement “…to protect communities from violent criminals, criminal organizations….” when he is so dedicated to removing the legal means of citizens to protect themselves from criminals via firearms. 

David Chipman is as anti-Second Amendment as they come and there is no place more dangerous than a gun free zone as we can see in Chicago and many other American cities right now. David Chipman is a danger to my safety and that of my family.

I will continue to monitor this important issue through alerts from Grass Roots North Carolina. Any vote for Chipman will be considered a vote against gun owners. 

Respectfully,  

A Modest Proposal By Jeff Knox

I have long thought that the NRA’s Board of Directors is too large and too unwieldy to be effective. Given how they have kowtowed to hired staff like Wayne LaPierre and their hired gun William Brewer III, I think this ineffectiveness is pretty obvious.

I’ve long held that it would be more effective to set up the board(s) similar to colleges and universities where they have a large Board of Visitors whose job it is to fundraise and gather support for the school with a small Board of Trustees whose job it is to actually manage the school in conjunction with administrators.

Jeff Knox of the Firearm Coalition has been a life-long observer of the NRA from both the inside and outside. Jeff’s proposal is similar but goes further than mine. He envisions three separate boards with varying levels of authority.

From his proposal:

The Honorary Board would be composed of celebrities, politicians, and high-dollar donors. As the name suggests, membership on the Honorary Board would be honorary, with members responsible for being goodwill ambassadors and fundraisers for the Association. They would have no role in the governance of the Association and would be elected or removed by the Advisory Board, with no limits on the number of members serving on it. They would not get travel reimbursement.

The Advisory Board would be a representative board of about 52 to 55 members, each elected by, and representing the NRA members of their home state or US territory. The term of service for Advisory Board members would be 2 years, with approximately half of the seats up for election each year. This board would be responsible for doing most of what the current Board of Directors does now, forming committees and subcommittees to hash out details and formulate policy and position proposals. The key difference between this board and the current board would be that the Advisory Board would not be making the final decisions, instead advising the Managing Board.

The Managing Board would be composed of 9 members, each serving a 3-year term, with one-third of the seats up for election every year. The members of the Managing Board would be nominated by the Advisory Board’s Nominating Committee or by petition of the members, and elected by the Advisory Board. The Managing Board would be responsible for electing the Executive Vice President, and for setting policy for the Association, as well as overseeing all aspects of Association business.

Jeff is explicit that his proposal is a basis for discussion and is meant to generate ideas. He doesn’t see it as a be-all and end-all proposal.

He goes on to add about the composition of the Advisory and Managing Boards:

The Advisory Board would be comprised primarily of people with strong ties and experience in the shooting sports and firearms politics, and the Managing Board would be comprised of people with solid firearms backgrounds and credentials, and equally solid business and government experience.

I think Jeff’s tripartite approach is a good start.

I do have reservations about two things. With the exception of just a few state affiliates like those in California, New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts, most NRA state affiliates are next to useless when it comes to actually fighting for gun rights. They tend to leave the fight for gun rights to the NRA-ILA representative serving multiple states and maybe a paid lobbyist. The fight for gun rights in many states is actually being done by non-NRA affiliates like Grass Roots North Carolina, AZ Citizens Defense League, and the Virginia Citizen Defense League

Most NRA state affiliates’ forte is competition and maybe training. I don’t want to call them “fudds” but many are still stuck in a 1950s mindset. They are totally ignorant of Gun Culture v2.0 and the millions of new gun owners who bought their first firearm in 2020-21.

My second reservation is an extremely strong objection to having the Managing Board elected by the Advisory Board. Never, ever should the voting members of the NRA not have the final say on the election of the Board that actually manages the NRA. I do like the idea that people can be nominated by petition for the Managing Board and I would make it a reasonable number that is obtainable.

As Jeff said, this is only a start. Unfortunately, it might take a court-order reorganization to make any of it happen.

Dallas Safari Club Celebrates 40 Years

The Dallas Safari Club will be celebrating their 40th anniversary in January with the DSC Convention. The convention will be held January 6-9 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

In preparation for this event, they have released a short video showing their progress since 1982.

I have never been to a convention like this and hope to attend in January. My dream is to do a plains game hunt in either Namibia or South Africa in 2023. I grew up reading Hemingway and Ruark. While a two month safari in Kenya aka British East Africa is a thing of the past, a plains game hunt is not and actually can be cheaper than an elk hunt in Colorado.

Moving Dirt

The Aurora Sportsmen’s Club in Waterman, Illinois has a large tract of land on which they are always building even more ranges. I last mentioned them in 2020 when they were prevented from being open due to Gov. J. B. Pritzker’s Covid restrictions. This despite being a huge outdoor facility where “social distancing” was easily accomplished.

My friend Todd Vandermyde is part of the club and likes to play with big Tonka toys. Really big toys! He does this when he has some free time from lobbying the Illinois General Assembly on gun rights.

If you ever wondered what went into building a major facility like this watch the next two videos. Between a D8 Caterpillar bulldozer and an excavator, they are moving tons and tons of dirt.

You can see more of his videos on his YouTube channel called “Freedom’s Steel”.

A Right Delayed…

Is a right denied has been attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Given Dr. King was denied a carry permit in Alabama, this story from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina is a prime example of what he spoke about.

Local Charlotte TV station WBTV did an investigative report on how long it takes to get a North Carolina Concealed Handgun Permit in that county. If you took a class now, you will get your shall-issue permit in about a year.

By contrast, in surrounding counties such as Gaston and Union, you would receive your permit is about 90 days.

From WBTV:

“If you’re in Mecklenburg County, expect it to be about a year from the time you take the class, get an appointment to start your application and then the application will be processed,” Cranston said.

Records received by WBTV from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office show that process is taking an incredibly long time.

“It’s not that the Sheriff’s Office is making it longer than it is cut out to be. It is that the numbers have went up,” Meckelnburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said.

Since January of 2020 there have been more 13,000 new applications and nearly 5,000 renewals. About 42 percent of those have been completed.

McFadden says he’s hiring additional staff and has authorized thousands of hours of overtime to help catch up. WBTV asked him what else he could be doing to get through applications more quickly.

“We are going to hire more staff. But as we hire, the demand is still there,” McFadden said.

“Every application that we work on that is, that is an application that we’re catching up on. We’re trying to catch up, but the volume is still coming in,” McFadden said.

Right now, the sheriff’s office is currently processing applications from December and the next appointment to get fingerprinted isn’t until October of this year.

The process is supposed to take just 90 days and under state law the sheriff’s office is supposed to notify applicants whether their permit will be approved or denied in 14 days.

Follow the this link to see the video of the sheriff’s interview. He has poor mouthing down to an art form.

I have no knowledge of any pending lawsuits given he is in violation of state law. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more are on the horizon.