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Toomey Really Doesn’t Want To Be Re-elected

June 16, 2016 by 3 Comments

As Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned has pointed out over numerous posts, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) is in very tough re-election fight. Moreover, as Sebastian has also pointed out, Toomey just seems to want to lose the votes of the one group that would make the difference in his election – gun owners.

He’s at it again. In today’s Wall Street Journal there was a discussion of the anti-due process filibuster being waged by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) in an effort to get anyone and everyone in the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database and other assorted “terrorist watchlists” on the NICS denied list. What caught my eye was this little tidbit.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and Mr. Toomey introduced again on Wednesday their legislation that would expand background checks to all sales at gun shows and online, with the goal of flagging people with criminal or mental-health histories that disqualify them from gun ownership. Currently, the checks are needed only for sales by federally licensed dealers. The bill stalled in the Senate in April 2013.

Like a zombie, Manchin-Toomey lives again!

I don’t have the bill number as it is so new that the Library of Congress and GPO don’t show it on their databases.

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Some Good News On Knife Rights In New York

June 16, 2016 by

There may be some hope for New York yet. The State Senate just passed the Knife Rights sponsored bill that stops New York City’s switchblade and gravity knife arrests by a vote of 61-0! The State Assembly had previously passed the bill by a vote of 99-12. The bill now goes to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) for his signature.

From Knife Rights:

NY Senate Passes Bill to Stop Bogus NYC Gravity Knife Arrests
Next to Governor Cuomo  



Knife Rights’ Gravity Knife and Switchblade Reform Bill, S6483-A/A9042-A,
passed the New York Senate today on a unanimous vote of 61-0. Knife
Rights’ Director of Legislative affairs, Todd Rathner, has spent many
weeks on the ground in Albany this session working closely with our
friends there to shepherd this bill through politically treacherous
territory. All that extraordinary personal attention has paid off with
this unanimous vote. The Assembly previously passed this bill 99-12. 



However, it is not over yet. S6483-A/A9042-A still needs to be
signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The Governor will not officially
receive the bill for his consideration until it is transmitted.
Transmission of the bill could take a few weeks, so please be patient
with the process. When the time is ripe, we’ll ask for your help, but
until then there’s no benefit to contacting the Governor about this
bill.


Knife Rights would like to thank the following people who
played a key role in helping to get this legislation through the
legislature. Assembly Member Dan Quart (D) our primary sponsor in the
Assembly, Senator Diane Savino (D) our primary sponsor in the Senate,
Senator Michael Nozzolio (R) who made passing this bill a priority this
session and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R) whose staff worked
closely with us to get the bill to the floor for a final vote.

Knife Rights would also like to acknowledge the invaluable
assistance and support of The Legal Aid Society of New York, as well as
the many other organizations that supported this bill. We’d also like to
thank all of you who called or emailed Leader Flannigan asking for a
vote on this bill. Your calls and emails make a difference.

S6483-A/A9042-A add clarifying bias-toward closure exclusions
to the state switchblade and gravity knife definitions, similar to that
included in the revision to the Federal Switchblade Act that Knife
Rights helped pass in 2009. This clarifying exclusion should prevent the
bogus Gravity Knife arrests and prosecutions of honest law-abiding
individuals in New York City who are carrying common folding knives,
tools that are legal to carry everywhere else in the U.S.

Neither Gravity Knives nor Switchblades have a bias towards
closure found in common folding knives to keep the blade safely closed
in the pocket. Only in New York City has the NYPD and District Attorney
Cyrus Vance, Jr. abused the states’ gravity knife law to prosecute those
carrying simple pocket knives by claiming they are illegal Gravity
Knives.

The City’s Village Voice newspaper found two years ago that
there had been as many as 60,000 gravity-knife prosecutions over the
past decade! Hundreds of innocent pocket knife carriers are being
arrested every week! You can read the Village Voice article at: http://bit.ly/1MiJbvv

Knife Rights’ Federal Civil Rights lawsuit against New York City and
District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. over these unconstitutional arrests
and prosecutions continues with oral argument scheduled for tomorrow,
June 16, which will be just over five years since the lawsuit was filed.
The trial continues because until, and only if, Governor Cuomo signs
the bill does the case become moot. The public is welcome to attend the
oral argument, click here for more information about attending.

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Dom Raso – The AR-15: Americans’ Best Defense Against Terror and Crime

June 15, 2016 by

NRA News just released a new video commentary from former Navy SEAL Dom Raso. He launches into a very vigorous defense of the AR-15 as a self-defense weapon. I really like these couple of lines from his commentary:

AR-15s are fine for Hillary and her family. They’ve been protected by armed guards who use them for three decades. But average Americans who watch the news and feel genuine fear for their safety, and their families’ safety—Hillary wants to deny them the level of protection she insists upon herself.

The elites will always have protection, usually government-supplied, against threats from their enemies, domestic and foreign. As to the rest of us, we are, as Michael Bane and others have noted, on our own. That means you and I are our own first responders. Why should we be denied an easy to use, fairly lightweight, highly functional, medium-powered firearm that is rarely, if ever, used in criminal attacks just to appease the powerful and the ignorant?

The answer is we shouldn’t.

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Yo, Donald! Fuhgeddaboudit (updated)

June 15, 2016 by 3 Comments

I just saw this tweet from presumptive GOP nominee for president Donald J. Trump.

You will need the gun culture if you want to be elected. You have been tough on other stuff so now is no time to go wobbly.

As I’ve written in the past, the Terrorist Screening Database, the TSA’s “no-fly” list, and the FBI’s terrorist watch list should not be used to deny an otherwise non-prohibited person from making a firearms purchase. Secret lists, even if created with the best of intentions, have no place in a free society and definitely no place in the United States.

The possibly gay Islamofascist who pledged his allegiance to ISIS during the middle of killing 49 good people had been interviewed by the FBI multiple times yet was not on any so-called watch list. Saying the addition of people on these secret lists to the NICS banned list would prevent further attacks is nonsense.

UPDATE: The NRA-ILA released this statement about meeting with Trump regarding no-fly and terrorist watch lists.

Fairfax, Va.— The executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, Chris W. Cox, released the following statement regarding terror watchlists:

We are happy to meet with Donald Trump. The NRA’s position on this issue has not changed. The NRA believes that terrorists should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms, period. Anyone on a terror watchlist who tries to buy a gun should be thoroughly investigated by the FBI and the sale delayed while the investigation is ongoing. If an investigation uncovers evidence of terrorist activity or involvement, the government should be allowed to immediately go to court, block the sale, and arrest the terrorist. At the same time, due process protections should be put in place that allow law-abiding Americans who are wrongly put on a watchlist to be removed. That has been the position of Sen. John Cornyn (R.-Tex.) and a majority of the U.S. Senate. Sadly, President Obama and his allies would prefer to play politics with this issue.

If the Democrats really believe that a no-fly list and/or the terrorist watch list will stop them from obtaining the means to kill Americans, they are sadly mistaken. Gangs use straw purchasers all the time. Am I to think that ISIS terrorists are so mentally disabled that they won’t emulate this? No!

As to the efficacy of no-fly lists, this CNN story details some of the people who have been prevented from flying due to the list including Democratic icon Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).

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Horrifying! Loud! Very Loud! Bruising! Disorienting!

June 14, 2016 by 1 Comment

The headline contains some of the adjectives that Gersh Kuntzman used in his NY Daily News story about his experience shooting an AR-15 for the first time. Modern journalism has sunk lower than I thought possible. The sad thing is that some people will believe the stuff he has written.

Such as:

I’ve shot pistols before, but never something like an AR-15. Squeeze lightly on the trigger and the resulting explosion of firepower is humbling and deafening (even with ear protection).

The recoil bruised my shoulder. The brass shell casings disoriented me as they flew past my face. The smell of sulfur and destruction made me sick. The explosions — loud like a bomb — gave me a temporary case of PTSD. For at least an hour after firing the gun just a few times, I was anxious and irritable.

Even in semi-automatic mode, it is very simple to squeeze off two dozen rounds before you even know what has happened. In fully automatic mode, it doesn’t take any imagination to see dozens of bodies falling in front of your barrel.

Reading this you would think it was written by some Special Snowflake that had just graduated some Ivy League school in Aggrieved Peoples Studies.

Instead it was written by a 51-year old man who is the deputy managing editor of the NY Daily News. Someone of an age that could be expected to have some measure of maturity and life experience. A Baby Buster and not a Millennial. Someone who didn’t just get participation trophies but actually had to work for it.

According to his resume, Kuntzman did graduate from the Ivy League (Brown with a degree in Russian). His bio, which may contains some padding, says he also attended the Sorbonne, the London School of Economics, and the Yale School of Drama. I can believe that last part!

I can take the drama but what pisses me off is the tossed off claim to “a temporary case of PTSD”. There are too many good men and women, both old and young, who put themselves in harm’s way for this country and now suffer the silent scars of PTSD. It is disgusting beyond belief to lay claim to PTSD – even temporarily – after a mere trip to an indoor range.

Gersh Kuntzman – you are beneath contempt! Take your yellow journalism and go back to writing your books about baldness and plays about SUVs.

UPDATE: Larry Correia has a great sendup of Mr. Kuntzman called “Ask Kuntzman”. It will have you snorting with laughter.

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Tweet Of The Day

June 13, 2016 by 4 Comments

I don’t know Ann aka Grasshoppah but I think her tweet hits the nail on the head. What does it say about those in power and those who are seeking power, i.e. Hillary, that they would let one Islamofascist’s actions be their reason (or excuse) for suppressing our God-given rights? What does it say about us as a country if we let them?

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Headline Of The Day

June 13, 2016 by

No, this doesn’t directly relate to the shootings in Orlando but is just as timely. Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, referencing a link to the new gun control group founded by Mr. Gabby Giffords and General David Petraeus, wrote this:

MAN WHO COULDN’T CONTROL OWN PENIS WANTS TO CONTROL OTHERS’ GUNS

It referenced this article. Fortunately, I had already swallowed my coffee by the time I read that headline. If you’ve seen the movie Full Metal Jacket, you will remember the scene where the Gunny was marching his trainee platoon around the barracks chanting, “This is my rifle, this is my gun…”.

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Spanish FR-8 “Cetmeton”

June 12, 2016 by 4 Comments

Ian at Forgotten Weapons has released another of his excellent videos on older firearms. This one is on the Spanish FR-8 Mauser. I remember seeing this for the first time in the early 1980s at a local gun store for about $150. Of course, I should have bought it then because by the time I bought my own FR-8 the price was $350 which I thought reasonable.

To me the best feature of the FR-8 is the sights. Unlike your typical Mauser notch and post sights, the FR-8 has a protected front post with an adjustable ghost ring sight.

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France Is Not A Developed Country

June 12, 2016 by 4 Comments

Now I know most of you are wondering about the headline. How can France not be a developed country. It has the Louvre, wonderful vineyards, exquisite cuisine, couture fashion, and was the home of thousands of brilliant scientists, artists, writers, and musicians over the centuries.

Well, according to Shannon Watts of Everytown Mayors for Demanding Mommies, it just can’t be because shootings like the one by the Islamofascist at a gay night club in Orlando only happen in America and no other developed country.

The attack by Muslim terrorists at Le Bataclan in Paris which killed 130 and wounded hundreds more is off of Shannon’s radar because it doesn’t fit her gun control narrative. France, by the way, had very, very strict gun control laws as does Belgium where many of those terrorists obtained their weapons.

Terrorists are going to kill people. It is what they do. That it was a gay nightclub fits squarely within the ISIS/ISIL playbook as they despise both Americans and gays. The thought that universal background checks or adding those on the No-Fly list to the NICS database would stop a dedicated American-born Muslim terrorist from obtaining a firearm with which to kill people is ludicrous.

Moreover, that presumes that firearms are the only weapons at the disposal of a dedicated Islamofascist terrorist. A quick trip to the local Exxon or BP station would provide the makings of a very effective terror weapon.

The only thing that I do agree with in her tweet is that we should pray for the victims.

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Now For Some Good News Out Of California

June 10, 2016 by 4 Comments

It seems like all the news coming out of California today was uniformly bad. However, there is one bright spot. As I reported two weeks ago, two firearms groups plus a number of individual plaintiffs sued for a restraining order against the California law that bans the use of the video feed from the California legislature for political purposes. UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh is one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs and he wrote about the case at this morning on the Washington Post’s Volokh Conspiracy blog.

As Firearms Policy Coalition reported a few hours ago on Facebook, US District Court Judge Morrison England has granted the request for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of Cal. Gov. Code § 9026.5. Professor Volokh also has confirmed that in a short post as well.

This is a win for the First Amendment and the Second Amendment. The Firearms Policy Coalition Second Amendment Defense Committee and others can now use video from the legislature in ads opposing Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gun control initiative.

UPDATE: Gene Hoffman of CalGuns Foundation just pointed out something that I missed. The same Judge Morrison England who ruled for the FPCSADC on First Amendment grounds was the same Judge England whose decision against concealed carry in the Richards case was upheld in today’s ruling from the 9th Circuit. How ironic.