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Where is Black Jack Pershing When We Need Him

November 6, 2010 by

Instapundit posted a link to the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College’s website tonight. They had this announcement posted:

UTB/TSC Emergency Warning #5
The campus is closed and evening classes have been canceled today and Saturday, Nov. 6 because of gunfire taking place across the Rio Grande. Anyone who needs to come to campus or has questions about events can call Campus Police at 882-8232 or 882-8233. Homecoming activities for Saturday, Nov. 6 have been affected. Coffee with the President has been canceled. The Golden Scorpions Reunion at noon will be on the patio at Lolas Bistro at 1335 Palm Blvd. in Brownsville. The Distinguished Alumnus Award event has been postponed until further notice. Enrollment Management’s Scorpion Saturday event has also been canceled. The mens and womens soccer semifinals of the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament have been moved to the Brownsville Sports Park. The womens game that UTB/TSC is playing in is at 8 p.m. and the mens game that UTB/TSC will play in is at 10 p.m. today. The womens soccer final will take place at 5 p.m. and the mens soccer final will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6 at the Brownsville Sports Park.

If anyone has ever doubted that we have trouble on our Southern border, this should be a wake-up call. This isn’t some modern-day Pancho Villa with his raid on Columbus, New Mexico. Rather it is a full-fledged narco-terrorist insurgency on our borders with heavy weaponry smuggled into Mexico by international arms merchants and not bought at American gunshows as the White House and the Brady Campaign would have us believe.

Enough is enough. One of these days Tonight We Ride will be more than just a great song by singer-songwriter Tom Russell. It’s time to skin some terrorists and make chaps out of their hides.

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Update on Bonidy et al v. USPS et al

November 5, 2010 by 1 Comment

In the first part of October, attorney Jim Manley and the Mountain States Legal Foundation sued the United States Postal Service on behalf of Colorado residents Debbie and Tab Bonidy. The National Association for Gun Rights is also a party to the lawsuit as an organizational plaintiff. The suit was brought to challenge the USPS’s ban on functional firearms on any Postal Service property with few limited exceptions.

An amended lawsuit has now been filed in the case. There is little change in the amended complaint when compared to the original complaint. The first changes are that Postmaster General John Potter and Avon, Colorado Postmaster Steve Ruehle are now only being sued in their official capacities. The earlier complaint had both men being sued in both their official and individual capacities.

The remaining changes are, for the most part, stylistic in nature. For example, in paragraph 26 of the amended complaint, relief is asked from “continued enforcement and maintenance of Defendants’ unconstitutional laws, customs, practices, and policies.”

The first post on the lawsuit was picked up by a web news service for USPS managers and employees about two weeks after the lawsuit was filed. The link from PostalNews was put up a few days after two Postal Service employees were murdered at a small post office in western Tennessee. From the comments, you would have thought that Jim Manley was proposing some obscure pagan ritual involving human sacrifice.

One anti-gun postmistress went so far as to brag how she even made uniformed law enforcement officers leave their service weapons in their police cruiser rather than to allow a firearm into her post office. As it is, the murder of the Henning, TN USPS employees was committed by a (still) unknown assailant who chose to ignore both the USPS laws and regulations banning firearms and the criminal laws of the State of Tennessee regarding homicide.

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No More Franken’ed Elections

November 5, 2010 by

Representative Bob “Who are You” Etheridge (D-NC) was defeated for re-election by nurse Renee Ellmers by about 2,100 votes. She was the only Republican candidate to defeat any of the “at-risk” Democratic congressmen in North Carolina despite not having resources poured into her race by the Republican National Congressional Committee. Under North Carolina law, Etheridge is not entitled to an automatic recount if the margin is greater than one percent. Suddenly yesterday, more votes were found for Etheridge and he is calling for a recount.

Here is what Renee herself is saying about this:

Dear Supporters,

Election night, after the ten counties in my district had reported their votes, I led Bob Etheridge by 2,100 votes. (That number is crucial because under North Carolina law Congressman Etheridge is not entitled to an ‘automatic recount’ if he trails by more than 1% – or 1,888 votes.)

Then, yesterday afternoon – unexpectedly – the vote totals changed. The State Board of Elections reported my lead had dropped to 1,600 votes. Two hours later Bob Etheridge announced he intended to call for a recount.

As a result, last night my campaign began hiring attorneys – eleven attorneys in all. One in each county to monitor each recount and an attorney to work with the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Right now, our best estimate of the minimum cost we face is $50,000. But, of course, my campaign spent every penny we had before the election.

Yesterday, we appealed to the National Republican Congressional Committee for support, asking if they could contribute to help pay the costs of this recount. Their answer, unfortunately, was, No – that we would have to raise the money to pay for the recount ourselves.

I was afraid that would be their answer. Months ago, I went to Washington and asked the National Republican Congressional Committee and many conservative leaders to help my campaign. Many conservative groups – like the Susan B. Anthony List, Concerned Women of America, Freedom Works, and Sarah Palin’s Sarah PAC all helped, but the NRCC declined. Later, they did support other campaigns in North Carolina – which, unfortunately, lost – but we never received their support. In fact, their spokesman told the press “that the campaign wasn’t ready for prime time” – which actually made it even harder for us to raise money. So, I am doubtful we will get support from the NRCC to help with the expense of the recount.

Right now, I lead Bob Etheridge by 1,600 votes. That lead should hold up. But we can’t take anything for granted. We must leave no stone unturned to insure a fair recount. We cannot allow the kind of mishap that happened in Minnesota – when Al Franken was elected – to repeat itself in North Carolina.

This morning my campaign manager set up a special fund – Renee Ellmers for Congress Recount Fund – to pay for the recount. I never dreamed I’d be asking you for another donation two days after the election – but I need to raise $50,000 ‘yesterday.’ The maximum you may give is $2,400. Each contribution – whatever the amount, whether it’s $25, $250, or $500 – is crucial and will be deeply appreciated. Could you send a donation and mail it today? Or, better still, click here, to give on my website.

I apologize for asking for another gift so soon – but I am sure you understand.

As ever, thank you and best wishes.

Renee Ellmers

Lest we forget, back in 2008, Senator Norm Coleman finished election day in Minnesota with a small lead of about 700 votes over comedian Al Franken. The Democrats and Franken called for a recount and day by day Coleman’s lead was whittled away as more ballots with Franken’s name on it were “found”. Eventually Franken was declared the winner and was sworn into the Senate in July 2009.

I don’t want to see that happen in North Carolina and I don’t trust the State Board of Elections which is dominated by partisan hacks to do the right thing without a lot of prodding. And the best thing to prod these hacks is a good attorney. Or a pack of good attorneys.

What about Ellmers on gun rights? Well, Ellmers was finally endorsed by the NRA towards the end of her campaign. She is rated AQ by the NRA-PVF and 3 stars by GRNC. Etheridge was rated D by the NRA and 0 stars by GRNC. For someone from eastern North Carolina he has been particularly unfriendly to gun rights and the Second Amendment. In addition to her ratings, Ellmers is a North Carolina licensed Concealed Handgun Permit holder.

Here is the link to donate to Ellmers Recount Fund:

http://www.reneeforcongress.com/landing-pages/help-our-recount-effort

And if you need any extra persuasion, just watch the video again. I just sent her a good donation as the only place I want to see Etheridge again is on YouTube.

UPDATE: From Renee Ellmers:

Dear Supporter,

The Board of Elections in each county in the district are now counting 3,000 ‘provisional ballots.’ And, next Friday, each County Board (there are 10) will hold a ‘canvas’ to confirm the initial vote totals.

The good news is many of these ‘provisional’ ballots are in counties I won – like Johnston County which I carried 64% to 34%.

The bad news is today our attorneys informed my campaign that by next Friday, we face $70,000 in legal bills. And, after Friday, we face another $150,000 in costs for the recount.

Before I say another word, I want to thank everyone who has responded to my appeal for help. People from across the nation have contributed and their gifts have allowed us to quickly put the team we need in place to insure a fair vote recount. I also want to thank – from the heart – Sarah Palin, who joined in asking people to help, Rush Limbaugh, who discussed our recount today on his program, and every blogger who’s posted an article asking people give to help me.

Many people have expressed their disappointment that the National Republican Congressional Committee refused to help. Well, as President Reagan used to say, Sometimes you have to make a politician feel the heat to see the light. Whether it is due to Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh or all the bloggers helping us, the NRCC has seen the light. They have wired my Recount Fund $5,000 and committed to help us raise money. I am grateful for their help and, from here, we take one step at a time.

Right now, I have two deadlines staring me in the face:

1) I must be ready to pay our lawyers $70,000 for their work through next Friday.

2) And, after Friday, I have to be ready to pay another $150,000 – a total of $230,000.

So, as you can see, we’re a long way from meeting our goals, and, if you can, please send a contribution to the Renee Ellmers for Congress Recount Fund.

Right now, I have two deadlines staring me in the face.

When you think about it, here’s the bottom line: Congressman Etheridge has already announced he will call for a runoff. And if he returns to Washington it will be one more vote in Congress for Nancy Pelosi.

If you can contribute please give today.

Thank you and best wishes,

Renee Ellmers

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An update in the Kachalsky case

November 4, 2010 by 1 Comment

It has been a long time since we’ve had news in this case. Kachalsky et al v. Cacace et al was the second post-McDonald case filed by Alan Gura. It challenges New York State’s pistol permit requirement to show “proper cause”.

An endorsed letter was filed last week by Anthony Tomari, Assistant Attorney General, on behalf of the State of New York. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel requires a letter indicating what motions the parties intend to file before they are filed. This letter requested the court’s permission to exceed the 25 page limit for the legal memorandum in support of their motion to dismiss. They are requesting up to 50 pages in order to support their position. Alan Gura had advised them he would be OK with 35 pages. Nonetheless, Judge Seibel granted permission to go up to 50 pages and added that the plaintiffs could also file a brief of that size if they thought it necessary. This motion is scheduled to filed with the court this Friday, November 5th.

Mr. Tomari, in his request, said he didn’t think he could adequately cover the substantial issues of both jurisdiction and the constitutional question presented otherwise. Tomari noted:

The impact of Heller/McDonald is just beginning to work its way through the federal and state judiciary and there are numerous on-going cases across the country raising Second Amendment challenges to state handgun statutes. Collectively, these cases will define the scope of rights conferred (sic) by the Second Amendment. Moreover, given the interests at stake, it is a certainty that there will be appeals, and a reasonable prospect that these issues will again be presented to the Supreme Court.

This letter also gives an indication of the grounds on which the State of New York plans to argue for a dismissal of this case. They will center on jurisdictional issues including:

  • Plaintiff’s constitutional claims are not ripe
  • Plaintiffs lack standing to pursue the claims set forth in the complaint
  • Jurisdictional abstention is appropriate under Younger v Harris
  • Jurisdictional abstention is appropriate pursuant to the Pullman and Burford doctrines
  • Subject matter jurisdiction does not exist pursuant to the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.

Younger abstention is the argument that the State of Maryland is pursuing in its move to dismiss the challenge to Maryland’s concealed carry requirement of “apprehended fear” in Woollard v Sheridan. More on the other abstention doctrines mentioned can be found here.

In the State’s earlier letter announcing motions, they only mentioned ripeness and the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. I can only infer from the latest letter that Mr. Tomari has been studying the arguments presented by the defendants in other Second Amendment cases. If so, I do give him credit for not trying to reinvent the wheel – not that it will carry the day in the end.

I will have updates next week after I have had time to digest the anticipated motions to be filed on Friday.

UPDATE:  The State of New York has not filed their 50-page motion to dismiss yet. However, Alan Gura has filed an amended complaint which names new plaintiffs who have been denied pistol carry permits in Westchester County as well as additional defendants. I will have a separate post on this after I have had a chance to read it.

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What the GOP Takeover of the NC General Assembly Could Mean for Gun Rights

November 3, 2010 by

The Republicans will now control both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly for the first time since 1898. That’s correct – 112 years. 1898 was the year that the fusion of Populists and Republicans lost control of the General Assembly which they had held for the preceding four years. The tactic that the Democrats used to overcome the Republicans was an appeal to white supremacy.

The “white supremacy campaign” was exactly that. The Democrats repeatedly stated that only white men were fit to hold political office. They often accused the fusionists, especially the Republicans, of supporting “negro domination” in the state. Indeed, there were a large number of African American officeholders, some of whom had been elected and many more who were appointed to office. The Democrats referred to themselves as the “white man’s party” and appealed to white North Carolinians to restore them to power.

As a result of this shameful legacy, the Democrats have maintained control of at least one house of the General Assembly ever since. That is, until last night.

Sean at An NC Gun Blog has developed a list of laws that need to go. While most of these laws are firearm or weapon specific, some are not. He brings an outsider’s keen eye to some of the more egregious laws on the books. For example, in North Carolina to purchase a cross-bow you need a a purchase permit from the local sheriff. This is the same permit that NC requires for the purchase of a handgun. Sean’s list should be required reading in the Republican caucus of both houses of the General Assembly.

At the top of my list would be a modification of the gun ban during states of emergency, the castle doctrine, and guns in state parks. I would also add that the Wildlife Resources Commission needs to change its regulation which prevents the carrying of anything other than a .22 pistol as a sidearm on state-recognized gamelands outside of hunting season even if one has a Concealed Handgun Permit. Since all the National Forests in North Carolina are also gamelands, I am forbidden to carry a centerfire handgun, permit or no permit, outside of hunting season. Congress recognized that crime happens in National Parks. The General Assembly and the WRC needs to recognize that it can happen in National Forests as well.

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GRNC vs NRA – And the Winner Is….

November 3, 2010 by 1 Comment

Neither.

In the two races where Grass Roots North Carolina and the NRA sparred over endorsements, they each won one race.

In the 11th Congressional District, Heath Shuler won 54% of the vote or about a 20,000 vote margin. Until I have the complete precinct by precinct results, I can only speculate his win came because he took the Democrat (and hippie) stronghold of Asheville big while holding his own in the rest of the district.

Both candidates in this race were rated A by the NRA so gun rights won’t suffer though I might not say the same for civil rights given Shuler’s votes on union card check and the DISCLOSE Act. I will also say the race was vicious with the negative ads starting almost immediately after Labor Day.

The other race where GRNC worked to defeat a candidate with the NRA’s endorsement was between NC House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman (D-Davidson Co) and the Republican challenger Rayne Brown. GRNC targeted Holliman for his refusal to push for a vote on a Castle Doctrine bill that had already passed the State Senate. It was held in the Judiciary I committee by the chair Deborah Ross (D-Wake).

Rayne Brown won almost 58% of the vote in her successful effort to unseat Holliman. Brown had been ranked 4 stars in the GRNC’s 0 to 4 star ranking system. Her victory knocked off the number two Democrat in the General Assembly.

In general, this was a good election for gun owners in North Carolina. Control of the North Carolina General Assembly appears to have completely switched hands from Democrat to Republican. If the close races hold up, it will be the first time in over a century that the GOP has controlled both houses of the General Assembly. I anticipate that this time the Castle Doctrine will be enacted as will changes to the NC law enacting a ban on off-premises possession and carry of firearms during declared states of emergency.

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The Polls Are Open – Go VOTE

November 2, 2010 by

The polls have already opened in both the Eastern and Central time zones by now. If you did not vote by either absentee ballot or early voting, then go vote!

One comment I heard on voting the other day struck me as needing a response. The person said they only voted in Presidential elections as they were the important elections. All elections are important and all elected people will have some impact on your life. In my county we elect some mostly administrative positions including the Register of Deeds and the Tax Collector. How those people administer their office will have as much impact on you as many decisions made in Congress or the state house or the White House.

I am passionate about voting. I registered to vote back in the days before we had the Motor Voter laws or the people from ACORN going door to door registering people to vote even if their name was Mickey Mouse.

On my 18th birthday, I marched myself down to the Guilford County Courthouse and registered to vote. I haven’t missed an election, primary, or even a run-off primary in the 35 years since then. I don’t expect everybody to be as passionate about it. But this is a general election and it has the potential to be one of the most significant in my lifetime.

We can’t take our country back nor assure our civil rights unless we vote. I can’t stress that enough. The work that Alan Gura and the Second Amendment Foundation are doing in the courts is mightily important. However, I think they would agree that their job would be easier and our rights more secure if we had sympathetic legislators passing good laws and that won’t come unless you and I vote. I did my part two weeks ago in North Carolina’s early voting so now it is up to you.

GO VOTE