Sean Sorrentino makes an interesting observation about politicians, interest groups, and gun bloggers in a post entitled “Why aren’t gun bloggers considered an “Interest Group?”
It’s time that Gun Bloggers were considered an interest group. We know the gun laws better than anyone but Gura and Gottlieb. We live, eat, and breathe guns and gun politics. And we have a built in audience of people who will look to us to sniff out the phonies. If you get in good with us, you’re ready for the big time.
Truer words have never been spoken than in this quote of the day that was Tweeted by “Ambaltrip”.
“Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars”
H/T Linoge
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Kenneth Melson, Acting Director of BATFE, may be ousted as early as next week over his role in Project Gunwalker. Moreover, they report that Andrew Traver is slated to travel to D.C. for meetings with Eric Holder next week.
Mr. Traver is set to travel to Washington on Tuesday to meet with Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Cole, the people said. The administration is weighing whether to name Mr. Traver as acting director or choose another interim chief while awaiting Senate action on his nomination, they said.
Remembering now-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s immortal words of “never letting a crisis go to waste”, this could be the golden moment for Andrew Traver and his supporters. As a reminder on Mr. Traver’s background and ties to the gun control industry, I point you back to my post “Who Is Andrew Traver”.
Mike Vanderboegh, who was the first to mention Traver, reminds us that as heir apparent for much of the last year, Traver has been constantly briefed on Project Gunwalker.
As the guy who first broke the news of the Traver nomination in early July of last year, I’ll tell you this: The Traver confirmation hearing will cover a whole bunch of skeletons. Remember that Traver has been the heir-apparent for some time. THAT MEANS HE WAS CONSTANTLY BRIEFED ON WHAT BECAME THE GUNWALKER SCANDAL BEGINNING LAST YEAR. The question then becomes what did HE know and WHEN did he know it.
Remember, the hearing will be in front of Charles Grassley. I think you can count on the Resistance to provide him with a whole ream of questions for the virulently anti-firearm freedom Mr. Traver.
Mike also speculates that Melson will roll as it is now obvious that he is being thrown under the bus. He would, of course, be able to say what he told his DOJ superiors about Project Gunwalker and would be able to testify who he told in DOJ. As Darrell Issa made painfully clear to Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, he wants to know who in DOJ authorized Project Gunwalker and saying it was a rogue ATF operation just isn’t going to cut it.
The Complementary Spouse’s daughter is getting married on Saturday. Because of this, there will be very little blogging from now through the weekend.
We really like her husband-to-be and think they are a good match. He has just finished his master’s degree in athletic training and has accepted a position working full-time as the athletic trainer for a large high school. Notice I said “accepted a job” and “working full-time”!
To make it even better, his dad is a gunnie who has been active in shooting high power rifle competitively. He and I have a great time talking guns when we get together.
So please join me in wishing the future Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Miller a long, happy, and prosperous life together.
A company called Kitanica has these cool tactical shorts out. The model Xl.A is shown below.
The shorts also come in other colors such as olive, sage green, and black.
And how much do these cool Kitanica Xl.A pants cost? How about $107!!
By contrast, a nice pair of either Columbia or Carhartt cargo shorts costs about $25 at Cabelas. If you really want to be fancy you can get the UnderArmour Safari Cargo shorts for $55.
Jeez, for that price they must think you are some sort of government contracting officer to be able to spend that much.
H/T SoldierSystems.
Bob Morrison, like Ronnie Barrett, is none too thrilled by comments of Mexican President Felipe Calderon concerning the U.S. firearms industry. He was interviewed by Cam Edwards of NRA News about Calderon’s comments.
Cam Edwards interviewed Ronnie Barrett, NRA Board Member and head of Barrett Firearms, on the claims by Mexican President Felipe Calderon that the American gun industry is responsible for thousands of deaths in Mexico.
UPDATE: Welcome visitors from SteveQuayle.com. If you’d like to know more about Operation Fast and Furious or the ATF’s involvement in gun-running to Mexico, I have plenty of posts on it. Just do a search on “Project Gunwalker”.
With the State House voting 80 to 39 to concur with the State Senate version of HB 650, the State of North Carolina is just one signature away from being protected by the Castle Doctrine.
HB 650 has been ordered engrossed and sent to Gov. Bev Perdue for her signature. I have not heard any comments that would seem to indicate she plans to veto the bill. I hope she doesn’t forget she was endorsed by the NRA when she ran for Governor in 2008.
Sean at An NC Gun Blog has more on the bill and the vote. Thanks to him we have the vote which has not yet been reported on the General Assembly site.
UPDATE: WRAL is reporting that Perdue could well sign HB 650.
But other bills are likely to get a warmer reception, and Pearson said H650 Amend Various Gun Laws/Castle Doctrine might be among them. “As you know, the Governor is a lifetime NRA member,” Pearson said. “She understands and supports gun rights. She’ll have to read it carefully, of course, but she tends to be pretty moderate on guns.”
You sure wish that Perdue’s media person Chrissy Pearson would differentiate between “lifetime NRA member” and NRA Life Member.
UPDATE II: Below is how the State House voted on the motion to concur (that is, pass) with the Senate version of HB 650.
Ayes
Democrats: Alexander, K.; Brisson; Crawford; Earle; Faison; Graham; Hill; Lucas; McGuirt; McLawhorn; Spear; Wilkins; Wray
Republicans: Avila; Barnhart; Blackwell; Blust; Boles; Bradley; Brawley; Brown, L.; Brown, R.; Brubaker; Burr; Cleveland; Collins; Cook; Current; Daughtry; Dixon; Dockham; Dollar; Faircloth; Folwell; Frye; Gillespie; Guice; Hager; Hastings; Hilton; Hollo; Holloway; Horn; Howard; Hurley; Iler; Ingle; Johnson; Jones; Jordan; Justice; Killian; Langdon; LaRoque; Lewis; McCormick; McElraft; McGee; McGrady; Mills; Moffitt; Moore, T.; Murry; Pridgen; Randleman; Rhyne; Sager; Samuelson; Sanderson; Setzer; Shepard; Stam; Starnes; Steen; Stevens; Stone; Tillis (SPEAKER); Torbett; Warren, H.; West
Noes
Democrats: Adams; Alexander, M.; Bell; Bordsen; Brandon; Bryant; Carney; Cotham; Farmer-Butterfield; Fisher; Floyd; Gill; Glazier; Goodman; Hackney; Haire; Hall; Hamilton; Harrison; Insko; Jackson; Jeffus; Keever; Luebke; Martin; Michaux; Mobley; Moore, R.; Owens; Parfitt; Parmon; Pierce; Rapp; Ross; Tolson; Wainwright; Warren, E.; Weiss; Womble
Republicans: None
Excused: McComas (R)
The only thing that stands out about this vote is that Speaker Tom Tillis did vote on this bill. He has only voted 92 times out of a possible 1179 votes. This is not due to being a slacker but the tradition that the Speaker only votes on critical issues. I’m glad to see that he wanted to go on record as being for the amending the various firearms laws and, more importantly, the Castle Doctrine.
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