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Busy Weekend For St. Louis

April 10, 2012 by 1 Comment

Fox2 Now St. Louis reports that it will be a busy weekend in downtown St. Louis over the weekend.

It’s going to be a busy week downtown. The National Rifle Association Convention starts Wednesday. The Blues also host playoff games Thursday and Saturday. And the Cards home opener is Friday against the Cubs.

In the report by Charles Jaco (who you may remember from CNN), the Mayor’s Office claims that the biggest security concern will be the NRA members and their guns.

I have a very simple suggestion for Jeff Rainford, the Chief of Staff to Mayor Francis Slay, and that is to allow NRA members to conceal carry in America’s Center and the Edward Jones Dome. If people are allowed to carry, most won’t have to leave their firearms in their cars. Mayor Slay, if you haven’t guessed it by now, is a member of Mayor Bloomberg’s Illegal Mayors.

If you find Mr. Rainford’s suggestion that we who are bringing millions of dollars to his fair city offensive – and I do – then you can send him a polite little note. It is actually very simple. Go here and use Mr. Rainford’s handy email tool to send him a message directly.

UPDATE: I received a response from Mr. Rainford which I am printing below in its entirety. It paints a little different tune than that shown on the TV interview.

It will make you feel better to know that not only did I not say NRA members posed the greatest security risk, I did not say NRA members posed any security risk.

I did say the following:

1. We would hope that if NRA members leave their guns in their cars, they secure them.

2. We expect traffic will be tight.

3. We are taking steps to require parking lot operators to have attendants in place to be the eyes and ears for the police.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Jeff

KVTI Fox News 2 does seem to be trying to create more controversy than any other media outlet about the NRA Annual Meeting as evidenced by a later report which I posted a few minutes ago.

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Timing Matters

April 10, 2012 by

If you read my post on the planned demonstration outside the NRA Annual Meeting by certain attention seeking St. Louis politicians and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic), you know it is scheduled for Saturday at 1pm. This time in the afternoon was chosen, I presume, to make the news cycle for the 5pm local news broadcasts.

As I said in the title, timing matters.

Whoever scheduled this event forgot about another major event happening in downtown St. Louis at the same time. The 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals will receive their Championship Rings in a special ceremony at Busch Stadium prior to the 1:05pm game. They will wearing special gold trimmed uniforms to commemorate their World Championship. Not only is this the middle game of their first homestand of the season but they are playing the Chicago Cubs. This is a baseball rivalry on par with that of the Yankees and Red Sox in the American League.

Every fan attending the game with a paid ticket is getting a replica Championship Ring courtesy of St. Louis-based stock brokerage Edward Jones.

Now where do you think the local media is going to be – outside America’s Center with a bunch of protesters or inside Busch Stadium with the home town heroes? Even if they do cover the protest, it will be bumped off lead story status.

CSGV might be excused for not knowing about this event but what does it say about local politicians such as Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, Rep. Tishaura Jones, and Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed? Do they really think they will get more media attention – good, solid vote getting attention – by dissing the hometown team in favor of solidarity with the anti-gunners? Even Al Sharpton decided it was better not to be in Sanford, FL over the Easter Weekend despite his earlier promise to “occupy Sanford.”

H/T “Dirk Diggler”

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Satirizing The United Nations

April 9, 2012 by

Daniel Drezner is a Professor of International Politics at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is also a good satirist if his latest column in Foreign Policy is any example.

Prof. Drezner wondered how a United Nations communique regarding the Jewish Exodus from Egypt might read. Here is how he envisions the Russian response in the UN Security Council.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin delivered a blistering response, arguing that it was the radical Jewsish leaders who had escalated the situation by resorting to weapons of mass destruction and demanding that Moses be indicted by the International Criminal Court as a war criminal: “It was not the Phaaroh who imposed unspeakable sanctions against the Egyptian people. It was not the Phaaroh who slaughtered every first-born male child in Egypt — except the Jews — in a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions. Surely, not a house in Egypt was spared from this , this plague. It was not the Phaaroh who resorted to trickery in the Red Sea, luring innocent Egyptian troops into the kill zone before massacring them. Both sides are equally guilty in the bloodshed, and until both sides renounce violence, a peaceful solution will be nothing but a mirage of the desert.”

Read the whole thing and laugh. And then begin to frown when you realize that these same clowns are trying to come up with an Arms Trade Treaty to regulate small arms and ammunition. To top it off, the Obama Administration has said they support this treaty unlike their predecessors who told the UN to pound sand as it violated our Second Amendment.

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Historical Quote Of The Week

April 9, 2012 by

This week’s historical quote comes from relatively recent times. It is by Mickey Kaus who is a journalist and pundit writing for The Daily Caller. In 2010, he was also a Democratic candidate for the US Senate from California opposing Barbara Boxer (D-Ca).

“[I]f liberals interpreted the Second Amendment the way they interpreted the rest of the Bill of Rights, there would be law professors arguing that gun ownership is mandatory.”

Kaus, Mickey, qtd. in Kinsley, Michael. “Slicing Up The Second Amendment.” The Washington Post 8 Feb. 1990: A25. Print.

This quote is found on page 43 of Proclaiming Liberty which is available from Amazon.com for $12.95. The Kindle edition is now available for $3.95.

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Sending The Wrong Message? I Don’t Think So

April 9, 2012 by 1 Comment

Some community activists in St. Louis are saying that the billboards advertising the NRA Annual Meeting are sending the “wrong message.” Rev. B. T. Rice is the head of the St. Louis branch of the NAACP and he objects to the billboards.

The leader of St. Louis’ NAACP is calling out the National Rifle Association, saying the group is delivering the wrong message at the wrong time as it prepares for its national convention in St. Louis next week. The Reverend B.T. Rice was discussing the county police shooting of fifteen year old Lavon Peete when he was asked about the NRA billboards that have flooded the city.

“The advertisement says we’ll have acres and acres of guns,” Rice observed. “A clear dichotomy between the NRA and those of us who deal with these sort of situations on a day to day basis.”

Rice and some other community leaders are calling for a gun violence (sic) summit in St. Louis. Rev. Rice would like to hold it concurrently with the NRA Annual Meeting.

Lavon Peete, mentioned above, was shot and killed by St. Louis County Police after he refused to drop a “sawed off rifle” he was point at them. While his family denies he was armed, others who were with him at the time confirm he was armed. As to what a “sawed off rifle” is, it is never specified in any of the stories.

Steven King, owner of Metro Shooting Supply in the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton, says he thinks an anti-violence summit would be a good idea. That is, he says if “they look at the true causes of the violence and not the tools people are using to commit violence.”

As to whether the billboards are sending the wrong message, I most certainly don’t think they are sending the wrong message.

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Unscheduled Events At The Annual Meeting

April 8, 2012 by 7 Comments

Thanks to Twitter, I found this unofficial, previously unscheduled event that is planned for the NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis. It will feature some local politicians as well as possibly some out-of-town visitors. The flyer for the event is below.

Since the Tweet featuring this flyer linked to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) website, I’m assuming that they are the organizers of this soiree. As Sebastian so accurately observed today on Twitter, they are professional agitators. I don’t think they should be confronted, heckled, or otherwise given more attention than they deserve.

That said, I’d love to get a picture of myself with Ladd Everitt or Josh Horwitz much as Mike Vanderboegh has one of himself with Paul Helmke at the Restore the Constitution Rally. It would make a great keepsake – and a great reminder of our opposition.

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Quote Of The Day

April 6, 2012 by 3 Comments

Here in western North Carolina, the hippies, Yankees, and vegans have turned organic grocery stores like EarthFare, Greenlife, and the French Broad River Co-op into shrines for politically correct food. The next time I’m tempted to go shopping at one of these places I’ll remember these wise words from Tam.

People browse the organic breakfast food shelves for the muesli that tastes most like authentic sawmill floor sweepings, because that’s how you know it’s good for you. It’s not food, it’s a hair shirt you eat. When you’re doing penance for not going jogging this morning or for having that extra martini last night, it’s not supposed to taste good.

I’ll leave the hair shirts to the long dead saints and mystics.

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HR 4269 – A Bill Concerning Interstate Travel With Firearms And Ammunition

April 6, 2012 by 4 Comments

Last week, HR 4269 was introduced by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) along with co-sponsors Rep. Bill Owens (D-NY) and Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX). The bill’s purpose is to “more comprehensively address the interstate transportation of firearms or ammunition.” The bill would clarify and strengthen the rights of a traveler to transport firearms and ammunition from one place to another so long as it was legal at the starting and ending place of the trip.

This bill would not have prevented the arrest of Tennessee med student Meredith Graves or former Marine Ryan Jerome. However, it would have prevented the arrest of Tea Party leader Mark Meckler who was arrested while in transit at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.

This is a bipartisan bill that needs to move forward to prevent further abuses by anti-gun cities like Chicago and New York. The one thing I really like about the bill is that it awards attorney’s fees to the traveler as well as giving him or her a cause for action in civil court.

The text of the bill is below:

A BILL

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to more comprehensively address the interstate transportation of firearms or ammunition.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF FIREARMS OR AMMUNITION.

(a) In General- Section 926A of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

`Sec. 926A. Interstate transportation of firearms or ammunition

`(a) Notwithstanding any provision of any law, rule, or regulation of a State or any political subdivision thereof:

`(1) A person who is not prohibited by this chapter from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm or ammunition shall be entitled to transport a firearm for any lawful purpose from any place where the person may lawfully possess, carry, or transport the firearm to any other such place if, during the transportation, the firearm is unloaded, and–

`(A) if the transportation is by motor vehicle, the firearm is not directly accessible from the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and, if the vehicle is without a compartment separate from the passenger compartment, the firearm is in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console, or is secured by a secure gun storage or safety device; or

`(B) if the transportation is by other means, the firearm is in a locked container or secured by a secure gun storage or safety device.

`(2) A person who is not prohibited by this chapter from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm or ammunition shall be entitled to transport ammunition for any lawful purpose from any place where the person may lawfully possess, carry, or transport the ammunition, to any other such place if, during the transportation, the ammunition is not loaded into a firearm, and–

`(A) if the transportation is by motor vehicle, the ammunition is not directly accessible from the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and, if the vehicle is without a compartment separate from the passenger compartment, the ammunition is in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console; or

`(B) if the transportation is by other means, the ammunition is in a locked container.

`(b) In subsection (a), the term `transport’ includes staying in temporary lodging overnight, stopping for food, fuel, vehicle maintenance, an emergency, medical treatment, and any other activity incidental to the transport, but does not include transportation–

`(1) with the intent to commit a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year that involves the use or threatened use of force against another; or

`(2) with knowledge, or reasonable cause to believe, that such a crime is to be committed in the course of, or arising from, the transportation.

`(c)(1) A person who is transporting a firearm or ammunition may not be arrested or otherwise detained for violation of any law or any rule or regulation of a State or any political subdivision thereof related to the possession, transportation, or carrying of firearms, unless there is probable cause to believe that the person is doing so in a manner not provided for in subsection (a).

`(2) When a person asserts this section as a defense in a criminal proceeding, the prosecution shall bear the burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the conduct of the person did not satisfy the conditions set forth in subsection (a).

`(3) When a person successfully asserts this section as a defense in a criminal proceeding, the court shall award the prevailing defendant a reasonable attorney’s fee.
`(d)(1) A person who is deprived of any right, privilege, or immunity secured by this section, section 926B or 926C, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State or any political subdivision thereof, may bring an action in any appropriate court against any other person, including a State or political subdivision thereof, who causes the person to be subject to the deprivation, for damages and other appropriate relief.
`(2) The court shall award a plaintiff prevailing in an action brought under paragraph (1) damages and such other relief as the court deems appropriate, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.’.

(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of sections for such chapter is amended in the item relating to section 926A by striking `firearms’ and inserting `firearms or ammunition’.

UPDATE: The NRA-ILA included this bill in their alerts for Friday. The text of it is here. They are in full support of this bill.

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Keep In Your Thoughts And Prayers

April 6, 2012 by 1 Comment

During this Holy Week I’d ask that you keep in your thoughts and prayers two gun bloggers who have made very important contributions over the years.

First, Dave Hardy who was just released from the hospital on Wednesday.

Released from the hospital yesterday afternoon, still rather weak. Last night I got a sound sleep, but the night before got only an hour or so. The usual hospital noises, awakenings for blood draws and vital checks, plus a special disturbance…. patients in the next room over who listened to the TV or talked loudly until 2 AM, and thereafter faked moans of pain and begged for help. They stopped the moans of pain after another patient mocked them by groaning in chorus. I don’t know if they were drunk, had mental problems, or were just jackasses.

Doc said he was initially concerned that I was going septic, but that had been avoided.

All I have left is exhaustion, some aches from sleeping on that bed, and some bruising where the IV went in and more where I got all the blood sticks in the other arm. I even got four injections to the belly; I’d only heard of those for rabies (and that might be history, or a legend).

Secondly, Mike Vanderboegh who just had major surgery has been readmitted to the hospital to deal with what has now been diagnosed as an abcess.

Woke up 0230 with stabbing pain in my left side just under the rib cage, like somebody was taking a Sykes-Fairbairn dagger and probing for my lung. Called Doc and he, like me, feared a pulmonary embolus. Made it into the ER in record time. CAT scan on lungs said no, praise the Lord. Further tests revealed that something is leaking internally, with probable infection. They stuck another drain in me and here I am sitting in Room 539 back at Trinity Montclair. Keep me in your prayers.

I’d also ask that you remember the family of Newbius whose funeral was this past Wednesday. Losing a father and husband is always hard.