Month: April 2012

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Satirizing The United Nations

April 9, 2012 by

Daniel Drezner is a Professor of International Politics at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is also a good satirist if his latest column in Foreign Policy is any example.

Prof. Drezner wondered how a United Nations communique regarding the Jewish Exodus from Egypt might read. Here is how he envisions the Russian response in the UN Security Council.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin delivered a blistering response, arguing that it was the radical Jewsish leaders who had escalated the situation by resorting to weapons of mass destruction and demanding that Moses be indicted by the International Criminal Court as a war criminal: “It was not the Phaaroh who imposed unspeakable sanctions against the Egyptian people. It was not the Phaaroh who slaughtered every first-born male child in Egypt — except the Jews — in a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions. Surely, not a house in Egypt was spared from this , this plague. It was not the Phaaroh who resorted to trickery in the Red Sea, luring innocent Egyptian troops into the kill zone before massacring them. Both sides are equally guilty in the bloodshed, and until both sides renounce violence, a peaceful solution will be nothing but a mirage of the desert.”

Read the whole thing and laugh. And then begin to frown when you realize that these same clowns are trying to come up with an Arms Trade Treaty to regulate small arms and ammunition. To top it off, the Obama Administration has said they support this treaty unlike their predecessors who told the UN to pound sand as it violated our Second Amendment.

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Historical Quote Of The Week

April 9, 2012 by

This week’s historical quote comes from relatively recent times. It is by Mickey Kaus who is a journalist and pundit writing for The Daily Caller. In 2010, he was also a Democratic candidate for the US Senate from California opposing Barbara Boxer (D-Ca).

“[I]f liberals interpreted the Second Amendment the way they interpreted the rest of the Bill of Rights, there would be law professors arguing that gun ownership is mandatory.”

Kaus, Mickey, qtd. in Kinsley, Michael. “Slicing Up The Second Amendment.” The Washington Post 8 Feb. 1990: A25. Print.

This quote is found on page 43 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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Sending The Wrong Message? I Don’t Think So

April 9, 2012 by 1 Comment

Some community activists in St. Louis are saying that the billboards advertising the NRA Annual Meeting are sending the “wrong message.” Rev. B. T. Rice is the head of the St. Louis branch of the NAACP and he objects to the billboards.

The leader of St. Louis’ NAACP is calling out the National Rifle Association, saying the group is delivering the wrong message at the wrong time as it prepares for its national convention in St. Louis next week. The Reverend B.T. Rice was discussing the county police shooting of fifteen year old Lavon Peete when he was asked about the NRA billboards that have flooded the city.

“The advertisement says we’ll have acres and acres of guns,” Rice observed. “A clear dichotomy between the NRA and those of us who deal with these sort of situations on a day to day basis.”

Rice and some other community leaders are calling for a gun violence (sic) summit in St. Louis. Rev. Rice would like to hold it concurrently with the NRA Annual Meeting.

Lavon Peete, mentioned above, was shot and killed by St. Louis County Police after he refused to drop a “sawed off rifle” he was point at them. While his family denies he was armed, others who were with him at the time confirm he was armed. As to what a “sawed off rifle” is, it is never specified in any of the stories.

Steven King, owner of Metro Shooting Supply in the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton, says he thinks an anti-violence summit would be a good idea. That is, he says if “they look at the true causes of the violence and not the tools people are using to commit violence.”

As to whether the billboards are sending the wrong message, I most certainly don’t think they are sending the wrong message.

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Unscheduled Events At The Annual Meeting

April 8, 2012 by 7 Comments

Thanks to Twitter, I found this unofficial, previously unscheduled event that is planned for the NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis. It will feature some local politicians as well as possibly some out-of-town visitors. The flyer for the event is below.

Since the Tweet featuring this flyer linked to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) website, I’m assuming that they are the organizers of this soiree. As Sebastian so accurately observed today on Twitter, they are professional agitators. I don’t think they should be confronted, heckled, or otherwise given more attention than they deserve.

That said, I’d love to get a picture of myself with Ladd Everitt or Josh Horwitz much as Mike Vanderboegh has one of himself with Paul Helmke at the Restore the Constitution Rally. It would make a great keepsake – and a great reminder of our opposition.

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Quote Of The Day

April 6, 2012 by 3 Comments

Here in western North Carolina, the hippies, Yankees, and vegans have turned organic grocery stores like EarthFare, Greenlife, and the French Broad River Co-op into shrines for politically correct food. The next time I’m tempted to go shopping at one of these places I’ll remember these wise words from Tam.

People browse the organic breakfast food shelves for the muesli that tastes most like authentic sawmill floor sweepings, because that’s how you know it’s good for you. It’s not food, it’s a hair shirt you eat. When you’re doing penance for not going jogging this morning or for having that extra martini last night, it’s not supposed to taste good.

I’ll leave the hair shirts to the long dead saints and mystics.

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HR 4269 – A Bill Concerning Interstate Travel With Firearms And Ammunition

April 6, 2012 by 4 Comments

Last week, HR 4269 was introduced by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) along with co-sponsors Rep. Bill Owens (D-NY) and Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX). The bill’s purpose is to “more comprehensively address the interstate transportation of firearms or ammunition.” The bill would clarify and strengthen the rights of a traveler to transport firearms and ammunition from one place to another so long as it was legal at the starting and ending place of the trip.

This bill would not have prevented the arrest of Tennessee med student Meredith Graves or former Marine Ryan Jerome. However, it would have prevented the arrest of Tea Party leader Mark Meckler who was arrested while in transit at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.

This is a bipartisan bill that needs to move forward to prevent further abuses by anti-gun cities like Chicago and New York. The one thing I really like about the bill is that it awards attorney’s fees to the traveler as well as giving him or her a cause for action in civil court.

The text of the bill is below:

A BILL

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to more comprehensively address the interstate transportation of firearms or ammunition.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF FIREARMS OR AMMUNITION.

(a) In General- Section 926A of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

`Sec. 926A. Interstate transportation of firearms or ammunition

`(a) Notwithstanding any provision of any law, rule, or regulation of a State or any political subdivision thereof:

`(1) A person who is not prohibited by this chapter from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm or ammunition shall be entitled to transport a firearm for any lawful purpose from any place where the person may lawfully possess, carry, or transport the firearm to any other such place if, during the transportation, the firearm is unloaded, and–

`(A) if the transportation is by motor vehicle, the firearm is not directly accessible from the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and, if the vehicle is without a compartment separate from the passenger compartment, the firearm is in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console, or is secured by a secure gun storage or safety device; or

`(B) if the transportation is by other means, the firearm is in a locked container or secured by a secure gun storage or safety device.

`(2) A person who is not prohibited by this chapter from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm or ammunition shall be entitled to transport ammunition for any lawful purpose from any place where the person may lawfully possess, carry, or transport the ammunition, to any other such place if, during the transportation, the ammunition is not loaded into a firearm, and–

`(A) if the transportation is by motor vehicle, the ammunition is not directly accessible from the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and, if the vehicle is without a compartment separate from the passenger compartment, the ammunition is in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console; or

`(B) if the transportation is by other means, the ammunition is in a locked container.

`(b) In subsection (a), the term `transport’ includes staying in temporary lodging overnight, stopping for food, fuel, vehicle maintenance, an emergency, medical treatment, and any other activity incidental to the transport, but does not include transportation–

`(1) with the intent to commit a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year that involves the use or threatened use of force against another; or

`(2) with knowledge, or reasonable cause to believe, that such a crime is to be committed in the course of, or arising from, the transportation.

`(c)(1) A person who is transporting a firearm or ammunition may not be arrested or otherwise detained for violation of any law or any rule or regulation of a State or any political subdivision thereof related to the possession, transportation, or carrying of firearms, unless there is probable cause to believe that the person is doing so in a manner not provided for in subsection (a).

`(2) When a person asserts this section as a defense in a criminal proceeding, the prosecution shall bear the burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the conduct of the person did not satisfy the conditions set forth in subsection (a).

`(3) When a person successfully asserts this section as a defense in a criminal proceeding, the court shall award the prevailing defendant a reasonable attorney’s fee.
`(d)(1) A person who is deprived of any right, privilege, or immunity secured by this section, section 926B or 926C, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State or any political subdivision thereof, may bring an action in any appropriate court against any other person, including a State or political subdivision thereof, who causes the person to be subject to the deprivation, for damages and other appropriate relief.
`(2) The court shall award a plaintiff prevailing in an action brought under paragraph (1) damages and such other relief as the court deems appropriate, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.’.

(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of sections for such chapter is amended in the item relating to section 926A by striking `firearms’ and inserting `firearms or ammunition’.

UPDATE: The NRA-ILA included this bill in their alerts for Friday. The text of it is here. They are in full support of this bill.

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Keep In Your Thoughts And Prayers

April 6, 2012 by 1 Comment

During this Holy Week I’d ask that you keep in your thoughts and prayers two gun bloggers who have made very important contributions over the years.

First, Dave Hardy who was just released from the hospital on Wednesday.

Released from the hospital yesterday afternoon, still rather weak. Last night I got a sound sleep, but the night before got only an hour or so. The usual hospital noises, awakenings for blood draws and vital checks, plus a special disturbance…. patients in the next room over who listened to the TV or talked loudly until 2 AM, and thereafter faked moans of pain and begged for help. They stopped the moans of pain after another patient mocked them by groaning in chorus. I don’t know if they were drunk, had mental problems, or were just jackasses.

Doc said he was initially concerned that I was going septic, but that had been avoided.

All I have left is exhaustion, some aches from sleeping on that bed, and some bruising where the IV went in and more where I got all the blood sticks in the other arm. I even got four injections to the belly; I’d only heard of those for rabies (and that might be history, or a legend).

Secondly, Mike Vanderboegh who just had major surgery has been readmitted to the hospital to deal with what has now been diagnosed as an abcess.

Woke up 0230 with stabbing pain in my left side just under the rib cage, like somebody was taking a Sykes-Fairbairn dagger and probing for my lung. Called Doc and he, like me, feared a pulmonary embolus. Made it into the ER in record time. CAT scan on lungs said no, praise the Lord. Further tests revealed that something is leaking internally, with probable infection. They stuck another drain in me and here I am sitting in Room 539 back at Trinity Montclair. Keep me in your prayers.

I’d also ask that you remember the family of Newbius whose funeral was this past Wednesday. Losing a father and husband is always hard.

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NRA-ILA On Wilson V. Cook County

April 6, 2012 by 2 Comments

The NRA-ILA released this statement on today’s unanimous ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court that reversed in part an Illinois appellate court ruling on the Cook County Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban and remanded it back to the trial court level.

Fairfax, Va. – Today, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously denied an attempt by Cook County, Ill., to dismiss a challenge to the county’s California-style ban on countless types of common semi-automatic firearms. The National Rifle Association supported the case brought by the NRA’s state affiliate, the Illinois State Rifle Association.

“We are very pleased with this ruling,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action. “Today’s decision makes clear that the lower courts shouldn’t take challenges to these laws lightly and that plaintiffs deserve a full opportunity for their evidence to be heard.”

In today’s decision, the court reversed a lower appellate court’s ruling that upheld the ban merely because it was supposedly similar to bans that had been upheld elsewhere. But of the three cases cited by the lower court, two relied on “facts” provided in legislative findings and testimony by anti-gun legislators and gun ban lobbyists; the third involved a challenge to federal regulation of fully automatic machine guns, rather than semi-automatic firearms.

Adopting a much more rigorous approach, the Illinois Supreme Court found it couldn’t say the guns banned by Cook County “categorically fall outside the scope of the rights protected by the [Second Amendment].” Therefore, the case will be returned to the trial court for more fact-finding.

Key to the final outcome will be evidence that the guns in question are “in common use” and “typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes,” which are the standards that the U.S. Supreme Court suggested would determine whether a particular type of “arm” falls within the Second Amendment’s protections.

On that issue, the numbers are overwhelming. Based on production statistics published by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, about 3.1 million AR-15 rifles have been made just since 1986, and AR-15s alone made up 4.3 percent of all firearms and 13.3 percent of all rifles sold in the U.S. from 2007 to 2010. The AR-15, of course, is just one of the many firearms banned in Cook County. These figures go to show that Cook County hasn’t just banned “common” guns; it has banned the most popular rifles of our time, used by countless law-abiding Americans for every kind of lawful purpose.

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A Bit Of Honesty From The Times

April 6, 2012 by 3 Comments

The New York Times, or as SayUncle appropriately calls it, the paper of making things up, let slip a little bit of honesty today. In the midst of a column opining that if we could just agree on “reasonable gun regulation” the National Rifle Association would cease to exist, Andrew Rosenthal had this to say:

The question of the constitutional right to own guns is irrelevant here—even if you believe that the Constitution gives every last American the right to own a firearm (which The Times editorial board does not, but many other reasonable people do).

The rest of the column was your usual litany of complaints about concealed carry, the Tiahrt Amendment, and the lack of restrictions on the number of firearms we are allowed to purchase. In other words, just a rewritten press release from the likes of MAIG or the Brady Campaign.