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An ISRA Alert On Senate Bill That Would Establish A Tax Per Handgun Owned

March 28, 2012 by

The Illinois State Rifle Association sent out this alert this evening about an attempt to tax each handgun owned. If you live in Illinois, I’d suggest you contact your legislator even if you know that they are anti-gun. That way they can’t say they only got pro-gun control mail.

The Chicago Mayor’s efforts to punish Illinois gun owners for Chicago’s out of control crime problem continue in the Illinois Senate.

SB3625 – This bill would tack a $20.00 tax on every hand gun you own and require you to register like a sex offender.

THIS BILL HAS ONE PURPOSE AND ONE PURPOSE ONLY – TO PUNISH LAW-ABIDING FIREARM OWNERS

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and State Sen. Antonio Muñoz (IL-1) are continuing their attacks on firearm ownership in Illinois. Monday, Senator Muñoz amended a bill to turn it into Emanuel’s handgun registration scheme, blaming law abiding Illinois handgun owners for his failure to control crime in Chicago. This bill makes it a felony, equivalent to arson, to possess an ‘unregistered’ handgun in the state and further punishes victims of crime through a ‘Lost or Stolen’ mandate, in other words, if you have your firearms stolen and don’t report it to the police in a ‘reasonable’ amount of time, YOU will become the criminal. To them, owning a handgun without government permission is the same as burning someone’s house down.

The only purpose of this bill is to make firearm ownership more onerous and expensive for Illinois residents during a time of economic hardship. It will have no effect on criminals except to give them peace of mind knowing that fewer people will be able to defend themselves.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP PRESERVE AND PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS

1. Contact your State Senator and politely inform him/her that you are a law-abiding firearm owner and that you do not support registering firearm owners like sex offenders. Tell him/her that you expect to see them vote AGAINST SB3625 if this antigun bill comes to the floor. If you do not know who your State Senator is, click this link to go to the Illinois Board of Elections:
http://www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx .

2. Contact the sponsor of the Emanuel/Obama gun tax, State Antonio Muñoz, (217) 782-9415, (773) 869-9050, and tell him that you do not appreciate the idea of being registered like a sex offender and having to pay a tax for exercising your constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

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Question Of The Day

March 27, 2012 by 3 Comments

Joe Huffman says there is only one question he wants answered about the Trayvon Martin case. And depending on the answer, that will be all he needs to know about the case.

The one question I have that will probably settle the issue for me is when the authorities said, “Zimmerman then shot Martin once in the chest at very close range”; What was that range? I’ve probably spent more time and money than most on learning about such things and if the investigators know what they are doing, and I have no reason to believe they don’t, then they should be able to determine that range quite accurately. If the range was under 12 inches they can probably determine the range to within a fraction of an inch. And of course the angle can be determine quite closely as well.

If the range is determined to be within six inches and the bullet path matches Zimmerman’s story then I have to conclude the two were in a fight at contact distance and Zimmerman was losing badly. If I were on a jury I would insist that Zimmerman was in reasonable fear of imminent permanent physical injury or death and was justified in using deadly force to protect himself.

End of story for me.

This is a very interesting question and one I hope will be answered sooner than later.

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Quote Of The Day

March 27, 2012 by

The quote of the day comes from Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned. He notes the narrative continues despite all indications from recent reports that the Stand Your Ground law has no real bearing on the Trayvon Martin case anymore.

This stopped being about Trayvon Martin days ago. The media is now in a full court press to blame the laws, despite the current witness testimony that essentially reveal that Martin was on top of Zimmerman before the shooting occurred. Duty to retreat is not at issue here. It can’t be at issue. Zimmerman had no means of retreat. The entire question, as I have said since the beginning, will hinge on whether Zimmerman is faultless.

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What Do You Want Covered From The NRA Annual Meeting?

March 27, 2012 by 2 Comments

I am making my plans on what to see and what to cover for the NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis. I would like to know what you would like to see me cover. I am open to suggestions.

On my own list so far are the Leadership Forum on Friday and the Members Meeting on Saturday. I also hope to attend Maj. John Plaster’s session on the sniper war in Afghanistan.

You can go the Annual Meeting site to see the list of exhibitors and the sessions.

I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

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Judge Rules For Bloomberg In Suit Over City’s Handgun Permit Fees

March 27, 2012 by 4 Comments

US District Court Judge John G. Koeltl ruled today that the City of New York’s fees for the issuance of a residential handgun permit are Constitutional. In the case of Kwong et al v. Bloomberg et al, Judge Koeltl denied the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and granted the defendants’ cross motion for summary judgment.

The Second Amendment Foundation and the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association along with seven individual plaintiffs had sued the City and the Attorney General of New York contending that the $340 fee charged violated the Second Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. With the sole exception of Nassau County on Long Island, the rest of the counties in New York State are only allowed to charge a maximum of $10 for this permit. The case was brought in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The judge says there’s no evidence the fee has stopped anyone from exercising their rights. He says the city showed the fee helps cover administrative costs.

City Attorney Michael Cardoza says the ruling upholds the city’s ability to conduct meaningful checks into applicants’ qualifications. A lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

I have only had a chance to quickly skim Judge Koeltl’s 38-page opinion. I do note that he applies intermediate scrutiny to the plaintiffs’ Second Amendment claim while applying only rational basis scrutiny to their Equal Protection claim.

I hope to have a more in-depth review of the opinion in the next day or so.

The opinion can be found here.

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“After My Election I Have More Flexibility” – Obama

March 26, 2012 by 2 Comments

Jake Tapper of ABC News is reporting on a comment made by President Obama to Russian President Demitri Medvedev today at the end of their 90 minute meeting in Seoul, South Korea. They were discussing issues of mutual concern but especially missile defense.

The exchange:

President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.

President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.

President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

While this comment was made in the context of missile defense, I think it is a harbinger of things to come if Obama is re-elected. While he has been somewhat restrained in his gun control efforts so far, I think most rational people would expect Obama to ramp up his efforts once he no longer has to worry about re-election. If you didn’t think this presidential election and the concurrent congressional elections were not that important, think again.

A caller to Tom Gresham’s GunTalk last week or the week before said he was setting aside money to buy more guns in case it looked like Obama would be re-elected. He called it his Obama Re-election Gun Buying Fund. Tom responded that instead of buying more guns he should invest the money in supporting pro-gun candidates so that he and everyone else would have their Second Amendment rights protected. Given Obama’s comment, I think Tom made an eminently sensible suggestion and one that I’d like to second.

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Historical Quote Of The Week

March 26, 2012 by

I have been remiss in posting these historical quotes of the week and hope this quote will get things back on track. It comes from James Wilson who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence as well as one of the first Justices of the Supreme Court appointed by President George Washington.

“The defence of one’s self, justly called the primary law of nature, is not, nor can it be abrogated by any regulation of municipal law. This principle of defence is not confined merely to the person; it extends to the liberty and the property of a man: it is not confined merely to his own person; it extends to the persons of all those, to whom he bears a peculiar relation – of his wife, of his parent, of his child, of his master, of his servant: nay, it extends to the person of every one, who is in danger; perhaps, to the liberty of every one, whose liberty is unjustly and forcibly attacked. It becomes humanity as well as justice.”

Wilson, James. “Lectures on Law: Of the Natural Rights of Individuals.” The Works of the Honourable James Wilson. Ed. Bird Wilson. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Lorenzo Press, 1804. 496. Print.

This quote is found on page 65 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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The NRA Annual Meeting App

March 25, 2012 by

The NRA has released a free mobile app for the 2012 Annual Meeting. It is available for the iPhone, Androids, and Blackberrys. I have been playing with it for the last week and I like it.

Access exhibitor information and floor plan (including products & specials)

  • Quickly Navigate the Show Floor via Interactive Maps
  • Read Exhibitor Descriptions
  • Save your Favorite Exhibitors to an Expo Plan
  • Search for Seminars, Workshops and Special Presentations that Interest You
  • Save your Favorite Seminars, Workshops and Special Presentations to your Personal Itinerary
  • Receive Updates and Schedule Changes on our “Buzz” Channel
  • Email Exhibitors Directly and Access Their Website
  • Search Exhibitors Using Keywords
  • View Ticketed Events

 The opening screen is shown below and is the gateway to the rest of the features.

The items that I find most useful center around the exhibits and the scheduled events. First, the exhibits. Every exhibitor is listed with their booth number, website info, contact info, and a thumbnail description of what they offer. You can add them to your planner as a vendor you want to visit. It also allows you to find them on a map of the exhibition floor.

The exhibitor listing has the companies listed alphabetically as well as by category. For example, in the screenshot below, you can see 32 ammunition companies listed. These include everything from ammo makers to reloading equipment manufacturers.

 

The scheduled events on the app include all the ticketed events such as the Leadership Forum, all the book signings and appearances, and all the seminars. They are listed by day and time. If you look at the screenshot below, you will see green plus signs and red minus signs. These are to add or delete an event from your planner.

In My Planner, every session and every exhibitor that you’ve clicked on will be added to your schedule or personal exhibitor list.

You will need to register on the app if you want to be able to save your selections. It will also let you sync the app and the changes will show up across your various devices such as an iPad and an iPhone. The one warning I’d add here is to make sure you remember your password. The app has no function for reminding you of a forgotten password and you’ll have to re-register.

If you are going to the Annual Meeting and have a smart phone, I’d download this app. It will cut down on paper and will keep you current on what is going on. If you aren’t able to go to the meeting, I’d still download it for the exhibitor information. Even if there was a nominal charge for this app, I think it would be a good buy. And since it is free, it becomes a great buy.

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Alternate Uses For Ammo

March 25, 2012 by

When I came out into the kitchen yesterday morning, this is what I saw on the kitchen table.

The Complementary Spouse is a crafter. She was putting patches on a jeans purse that she was repairing for her older daughter. She needed some extra weight to hold the patches in place while the glue cured and boxes of handgun ammo provided just the right amount of weight.

So if your significant other is complaining about how much space your ammo cache is taking up, just show them this picture and suggest that it can be used for many things including arts and crafts.