Dave Kopel is interviewed by Cam Edwards on the efforts of Mexican and U.S. groups to have semi-automatic firearms banned in the U.S. According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, they are organizing a petition which they plan to present to President Obama.
One of these groups is Global Exchange. This is a pro-Castro, pro-Hugo Chavez group which sent monies to the families of insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq.
There was an interesting post yesterday on CleanUpATF talking about pending congressional hearings and whistle-blowing. The post was from “CovertOne” who appears to be a Special Agent in the field for ATF.
Word is that with the anticipation of Congressional hearings becoming a reality and ATF employees feeling some protection for the first time in their careers, the floodgates have opened.
This was my reply when I provided Congress with some information today:
Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:
Whistleblower (Judiciary-Rep) Whistleblower@judiciary-rep.senate.govThe recipient’s mailbox is full and can’t accept messages now. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please try resending this message later, or contact the recipient directly.
If “CovertOne” is correct, expect to see even more revelations about Project Gunwalker as more and more ATF employees seek cover from the fallout. I’m sure that what we’ve seen so far is only the tip of the iceberg.
UPDATE: Senator Grassley’s mailbox for whistle-blowers is now working correctly according to an email I received from David Codrea. My guess is that it filled up over the long holiday weekend.
Thanks to reader P.T. we have our own form-letter generator to submit comments to the Office of Management and Budget on the ATF’s proposed multiple rifle sale reporting requirement for the Southwest border states. There is a pre-written letter in the generator which you can modify as you wish.
Please forward this to all your friends, family, and others you know who believe in preserving our gun rights and freedoms. This really is an “Army of Davids” approach to use the Instapundit’s term. Unlike the Brady Campaign and Mayor Bloomberg’s Illegal Mayors, this is a totally grassroots effort done in less than 24 hours. We didn’t need a grant from the Joyce Foundation to put this together!
UPDATE: I have taken down the letter generator as the comment period has now closed. I will check with P.T. to find out the final numbers of submissions.
I want to thank everyone who helped with this little project. First, to P.T. for setting up the account and writing the code. Without this, it couldn’t have been done. Second, to all the bloggers, forums, and organizations that posted a link or put the code up on their own site. Finally, and most importantly, to everyone who submitted comments. Taking the time to submit a comment is what citizen democracy is all about. This was a true grassroots effort for gun rights.
UPDATE II: The final numbers are in. P.T. reports that we had 3,203 submissions to the Office of Management and Budget. We will have to wait until the ATF releases the public comments to see how this number impacts the final count. That said, it had to help counteract the Brady Campaign’s letter generator.
Stephen A. Camp, probably the Browning Hi-Power expert, has passed away on Friday at the age of 59 from a brain aneurysm. His obituary as published in the Denton Record-Chronicle is below. His website, Hi-Powers and Handguns, was the first place to go to find out anything and everything you wanted to know about the Browning Hi-Power.
For those of us who love the Browning Hi-Power, it is a sad day.
Stephen Allen Camp, 59, of Krum passed away on Friday, May 27, 2011.Steve was born on June 18, 1951, in Fort Worth, TX to Cecil and Taloma Camp. He married Sandy Bailey on August 26, 1999.As a young man Steve became a believer in Jesus Christ at Birdville Baptist Church in Haltom City, Texas.
Steve retired in 1998 from the Denton Police Department after 25 years of loyal and very dedicated service. He left a special legacy at the PD, and many of the people there remember him with love and respect. He left a piece of himself at the Police Department that will remain forever in the hearts of all who knew him. He definitely touched their lives in a very special way.
He had a passion for guns that was legendary. Target practice was a part of his daily life, and he was known as the premier expert on the Browning Hi Power. Many people sought his advice and he was always willing to give of himself to explain anything asked of him, answering emails from perfect strangers on a daily basis. Steve was an accomplished writer who could always express himself very eloquently on paper. After he retired, he started writing manuals about his beloved firearms. He was a self-published author who wrote four gun-related books that were very well received in the gun community. He even wrote one novel that impresses everyone who reads it. He was a very talented man.
Steve lived his life by a strict moral code and expected others to do the same. He could be rigid and uncompromising at times, but he was the most giving, loving, decent man who ever lived. You always knew where you stood with Steve because he would tell you. Everyone who knew him loved him and wanted to be his friend, because Steve was true-blue and always there for those he cared about.
He is survived by his wife, Sandy Camp; mother, Taloma Camp; mother-in-law, Florence Boehnemann; sister, Jan Clifton and husband Tommy; sister-in-law Kathie Boehnemann; niece, Kim Bolton and husband J J; nephew, Clint Jarrett and wife Jinelle; nephew, Stephen Boehnemann and wife Eve; niece, Lauren Hadley and husband Josh; and many other aunts, uncles, cousins and loyal friends.
He was preceded in death by his father, Cecil Camp; father-in-law, Delphine Boehnemann; and brother-in-law, Larry Boehnemann.
Visitation will be in Denton at DeBerry Funeral Directors, 2025 W University, on Tuesday, May 31, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
Services will be held at 10:30 am on Wednesday, June 1, at the First United Methodist Church of Denton located at 201 S Locust.
Memorials: Denton Police Officers Association, PO Box 5103, Denton, TX, 76205.
Thanks to Sean Sorrentino for taking this video and for insisting that I *had* to shoot the Kriss. While the full auto version was down for cleaning, I did get a chance to shoot the suppressed semi-auto version. It was my first time shooting anything that was suppressed.
Suppressed firearms should be encouraged and not saddled with a six-month delay and a $200 tax stamp. I think the first step is to consider suppressors and silencers as AOW’s or Any Other Weapons under the NFA is a good one. Even better would be to ditch the archaic attitudes towards sound suppression and remove them from the NFA list altogether.
The North Carolina State House will hold hearings this week on HB 241 – the North Carolina Firearms Freedom Act. The House Judiciary Subcommittee A will hold hearings on the bill for discussion purposes only on this Wednesday. Grass Roots North Carolina released the following about the bill in response:
HB 241
The Federal government has steadily expanded its misuse of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution to the point that States Rights have become next to meaningless. It’s time to stop the cancerous growth of Federal Bureaucracy and HB 241, North Carolina Firearms Freedom Act will help begin to do this.
This important new legislation is similar to the Montana Firearms Freedom Act enacted in 2009. It will allow North Carolinians to manufacture and sell firearms and ammunition for use within our State without having to bow to and comply with onerous (and expensive) Federal restrictions.
In addition to representing an important “shot in the arm” to shooting enthusiasts within our State, this law has important implications for redeeming States Rights. This represents an important first step in restoring Federal respect of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution.
This legislation is a win for freedom and needs all the support we can muster!
HB 241 will receive a hearing next week, and so we need to voice support NOW!
The full text of the bill is available here. Section 2 which contains the Declarations of Authority makes for very interesting reading. Rarely does one come across a bill in a state legislature that makes reference to the Federalist Papers!
(6)The Federalist Papers (specifically Madison #46 and Hamilton #29), as well as the entire history of the ratification of the Second Amendment, reveal that the right to bear arms was primarily intended as the sole means of defense and as a hedge against the potential tyranny of an overreaching Federal Government.
(7) According to the natural law of logic, a right intentionally enumerated in both the United States Constitution and within the North Carolina Constitution specifically and directly intended as a hedge against the potential tyranny of an overreaching Federal Government should not and cannot in any way be defined by nor regulated from the very Federal Government being so guarded.
Section 2, (7) does make sense. If the Second Amendment was designed to be a hedge against tyranny from the Federal Government, then logically the Federal Government should have no say in its definition or regulation. Unfortunately, I think it would be hard to find a U.S. Court at any level that would agree with that statement.
The comment period for the ATF’s proposed requirement on reporting of multiple sales of certain semi-automatic rifles ends tomorrow. There is still time to submit a comment. I have made it easy for you. To submit a pre-written comment just go here, put in your name, e-mail address, and optionally, your city and state. Hit “Send Email” and away it goes to the OMB.
Through 9pm Saturday evening, the form letter generator had sent 2,142 letters to the Office of Management and Budget opposing ATF’s rule making. “P.T.” sent the following screen shots of the number of entries received on Friday and on Saturday (through 9pm). The total number in that 48 hours is 2,401 according to his comments.
According to Sitemeter statistics, this blog had 2,556 hits on Friday and 2,440 hits on Saturday. My estimate is that 75% plus of those hits were in response to the letter generator. If you visited and didn’t submit a letter, go back and do it!
If you want to submit a longer, more detailed letter, go to my post here and cut and paste it.
As to why you should do it, read Kurt Hofmann’s post at the St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. The title of his column says it all – “Celebrating those who died for liberty, too lazy to spend 1 minute to defend it?” Kurt notes, you aren’t being asked to defend Bastogne against the Nazis like certain veterans from WWII were asked to do – and did. All we are asking you to do is take less than one minute to send a pre-written letter opposing the ATF’s power grab.
In addition, read David Codrea’s National Gun Rights Examiner column where he asks if gun owner apathy will allow ATF to impose this requirement. While you are at it, read what Chris Knox of The Firearms Coalition had to say about it. He gives you pre-written text that you can use if you don’t want to take the easy way.
The tide in the war for gun rights has turned and we have won many battles lately starting with the Heller decision. This is not the time to become apathetic and complacent. It is time to drive home the win and keep the astro-turfing gun prohibitionists in retreat.
On the Memorial Day 2011, I’d like to thank all who have served in our armed forces for their dedication, their duty, and, most of all, for the sacrifices they have made for our country and our freedom. May they and their sacrifices never be forgotten.
I just spent three days at the LuckyGunner Blogger Shoot. Among the bloggers participating were a number of veterans. While I know I am missing a few, I had to the pleasure to get to know (and shoot) with Jim Curtis (Old NFO – USN), Rev. Kenn Blanchard (Urban Shooter podcast – USMC), Sean Sorrentino (A NC Gun Blog – USA & USN), Cargosquid (United Conservatives of VA – USN) and Anthony whose last name I missed (The Packet Man – USMC). Lest I forget, our host Mike Mollenhour (MJM’s Blog) served as an officer in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
To all of the above and veterans everywhere, I say thank you for your service.
Along with all the bloggers at the LuckyGunner Memorial Day Blogger Shoot, there were a number of WWII reenactors representing both German and American forces. The American forces had a couple of M3 Stuart tanks and a half-track. This video shows them in action against targets filled with Tannerite.
This video is the first that I’ve ever taken with my iPhone. I’m sure if I knew what the heck I was doing, it would have been a little better.
It was not a bad day.
I have a sunburned face, came in as the runner-up in the 2011 Best Gun Blog – Law category to the Instapundit, shot a boat load of free ammo, and got to shoot a variety of full auto guns. Yep, not a bad day.
I shot a full auto M-16A1, a Heckler Koch G-3, a Thompson M1 submachine gun, a German MP-40, and a Smith and Wesson M76 (a copy of the Swedish K submachine gun). I almost got to shoot a Browning BAR but it was having feed problems. I missed out on firing some of the crew-served machine guns and the H-K MP-5. My favorites were the Thompson and the Smith and Wesson M76. Both were controllable and have very little felt recoil. As someone commented, imagine what the price of the M76 would be if there were no Hughes Amendment. It was a very simple stamped gun whose production costs would be relatively modest.
I met and spoke with a number of bloggers. There were too many to name individually but I hope we can get a list so we can all keep up with one another.
I think we all had a great time and are very grateful that LuckyGunner.com put on the shoot and provided the ammo. I am excited that tomorrow I’ll be taking both a defensive pistol and a shotgun course with Tom Givens of Rangemaster. One of my goals for the year was to take a training course. That I can take classes in both handgun and shotgun makes it even better.
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