Month: October 2014

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On November 5th, These Become Target Stands

October 31, 2014 by 1 Comment

If your neighborhood or town is like mine, you are seeing political yard signs everywhere. Some are for candidates you like, some are for those you despise. They are generally made of heavy paper or, if the candidate was really spending some money, a corrugated plastic. If you look closely at the two in the foreground, you can see the ribbing from the corrugation. These signs usually are attached to wire stands.

Now, in most places, it is illegal to take these signs before Election Day unless some schmuck puts it on your property without asking permission.

However, after the polls close on November 4th, all of these signs can have a new life as target stands. You can tack your paper targets on the face of these signs and shoot away. While they aren’t at the height of many target stands, I think they’d do just fine for rimfire stands or for just plinking.

Think of it this way – the price is right, you are cleaning up the roadsides, you are “repurposing” them, and, if you hate the candidate in question, it will give you plenty of perverse pleasure in blowing away his or her sign.

UPDATE: I’m guessing this husband of a Delaware Democratic incumbent just wanted to get an early start on gathering some target stands.

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I Got Me Them Hickenlooper Blues

October 28, 2014 by 1 Comment

Thanks to National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea and his co-writers Cyd Lantz and David Simpson we have the lyrics to The Hickenlooper Blues. They along with their producer Peter Gould have created this great parody of Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and his various excuses for bringing gun control to Colorado.

Share this with your friends. David suggests other places to share this video. This is an extremely close election – too close really – and Hick needs to be sent back to his brew pub.

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Last Refuge Of A Liberal Scoundrel

October 27, 2014 by 4 Comments

If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, then accusations of racism must be the last refuge of a liberal scoundrel. Accusations can come in both overt and covert forms.

For example, coming out and saying that Senator X is a racist or that some act that he or she committed was racist in intent would be an overt accusation. At least these accusations are forthright.

Covert accusations are much more insidious. They rely upon code words. Code words like Trayvon, Ferguson, and stand your ground.

So it is with the latest ad from Sen. Harry Reid’s Senate Majority PAC. Listen to the radio ad that they are playing in North Carolina aimed at African-American voters. Pay attention to the segment starting at 0:24 to 0:30 as captured from the airwaves by well-known North Carolina conservative blogger Sister Toldjah.

You heard correctly. The ad says, “Tillis even led the effort to pass the type of stand your ground laws that caused the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.” It doesn’t matter that Florida’s stand your ground law was not invoked in George Zimmerman’s trial nor that they confuse passage of the castle doctrine with stand your ground laws. It is still using covert accusations of racism to encourage black voters to turn out for Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC).

And to be honest, Speaker Tillis did not lead the effort to pass HB 650. It was Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba) and Sen. Buck Newton (R-Nash). The best you can say is that Tillis did not impede the efforts to pass this omnibus bill that reformed North Carolina’s gun laws. Moreover, HB 650 was signed into law by Democrat Gov. Beverly Perdue.

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) should repudiate this racist ad but we all know she won’t. She needs the “black vote” and Harry Reid will go as low as he needs to in order to secure it for her.

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North Carolina Judicial Races

October 25, 2014 by 1 Comment

North Carolina has a non-partisan electoral system for all levels of judges. Prior to 1996, judicial elections were partisan. Appellate level judgeships – Court of Appeals and Supreme Court – were the last to go non-partisan making the transition in 2002.

Given that, how can you figure out who is conservative and who is liberal? Or who is pro-gun and who is anti-gun. We recently saw what a difference it can make when Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens blatantly ignored the black letter law and allowed Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler (R-NC) to ban guns at the NC State Fair.

The State Board of Elections does put out a Judicial Voter Guide which includes a short statement from each candidate, gives their education and work history, and provides a link, if any, to their websites. To be frank, it is of little use other than to tell you some of their work history and educational background.

Fortunately, the candidates’ websites tend to be of more value. For example, Judge Bill Southern, who is running for the NC Court of Appeals against Judge Lucy Inman, tells you he is a member of the NRA and is part of the conservative/libertarian John Locke Foundation’s candidate development program. By contrast, Supreme Court Associate Justice Robin Hudson touts her endorsements from the Durham People’s Alliance, NC chapter of NOW, and the NC AFL-CIO. You can be pretty much assured that she is not a conservative.

The North Carolina Republican Party has issued their endorsements at the state level as has the Grass Roots North Carolina Political Victory Fund. With the exception of the “Martin seat”, they agree. The North Carolina Democratic Party also made endorsements which are 180 deg. from those below.

From the GOP:

Supreme Court Chief Justice
Judge Mark Martin


Supreme Court Justice (Martin seat)
Judge Bob Hunter


Supreme Court Justice (Hudson seat)
Judge Eric Levinson


Supreme Court Justice (Beasley seat)
Mike Robinson


Court of Appeals (Hunter seat)
Judge Bill Southern


Court of Appeals (Martin seat)
Judge John Tyson


Court of Appeals (Stroud seat)
Judge Donna Stroud (unopposed)


Court of Appeals (Davis seat)
Judge Paul Holcombe

Perhaps more important to gun owners is this list of endorsements from the GRNC PVF:

GRNC-PVF Judicial Candidate Recommendations:

Supreme Court (Chief Justice): Mark Martin
Supreme Court (Martin seat): Bob Hunter
Supreme Court (Hudson seat): Eric Levinson
Supreme Court (Beasley seat): Mike Robinson
Court of Appeals (Martin seat): Marion Warren
Court of Appeals (Hunter seat): Bill Southern
Court of Appeals (Stroud seat): Donna Stroud
Court of Appeals (Davis seat): Paul Holcombe

What is called the “Martin seat” is to fill the vacancy left open when Chief Judge John Martin retired. There are, believe it or not, 19 candidates for that open seat. In addition to the two people endorsed for this seat by the GOP and GRNC-PVF, Elizabeth Davenport Scott and Valerie Johnson Zachary are also worth a look. Both are Republicans. Zachary has been endorsed by Conservatives of Guilford County and touts herself a conservative. What makes her somewhat unusual is that she has a law degree from Harvard and practices in Yadkinville, pop. 2,818.

I did a blog post earlier this month regarding Judge Mark Davis who is seeking a full term on the Court of Appeals. Unless he is just a hired gun who will say anything to win a case, he is no friend of the Second Amendment. For that reason, Judge Paul Holcombe has my vote.

Early voting started on Thursday, October 23rd. To find out where you can vote early (assuming you are a registered NC voter), go here. The one thing to remember is that voting a straight ticket won’t impact these races. You have to vote for each race and each judge.

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SAF Files Suit Against Illinois Over CCW Residency Requirements

October 23, 2014 by

The Second Amendment Foundation, Illinois Carry, and the Illinois State Rifle Association filed suit today against the state of Illinois in US District Court for the Central District of Illinois. The suit was filed on behalf of 10 individual plaintiffs who, because of their state of residence, are not eligible to apply for a non-resident Illinois concealed carry license. The Illinois State Police have interpreted the statutes regarding non-resident licenses so narrowly that it only applies to residents of four states. Those states are Hawaii, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Virginia.

This isn’t an abstract restriction to me. Paul Lathrop, the host of the Polite Society Podcast, is a resident of South Dakota. His work often takes him to and through Illinois. He had signed up to take the Illinois CCW class but was forced to cancel at the last moment due to this interpretation.

Illinois attorney David Sigale is representing the plaintiffs. He has handled a number of cases for the Second Amendment Society and was second chair in the McDonald case.

The case is entitled Culp et al v. Madigan et al. The lead plaintiff is Kevin Culp who is a resident of Pennsylvania. He is an Air Force colonel stationed on orders at Scott Air Force Base in O’Fallon, Illinois and is the holder of a Pennsylvania carry license. Col. Culp also is certified as a NRA Basic Pistol Instructor.

Below is the release from the Second Amendment Foundation on this case.

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Illinois, challenging that state’s concealed carry statute that restricts otherwise qualified non-residents the rights and privileges of carrying concealed firearms based solely on their state of residence.

Joining SAF in this legal action are the Illinois State Rifle Association, Illinois Carry, Inc., and ten individual plaintiffs, all residing in other states and who are licensed to carry in those states. Under the restrictive Illinois statute, only residents from states with “substantially similar” requirements to obtain a carry license are allowed to apply for non-resident licenses.

Only four states currently qualify under that provision. They are Hawaii, New Mexico, South Carolina and Virginia. None of the individual plaintiffs reside in those states.

According to SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, this situation is not simply unfair, it is untenable and we believe unconstitutional.

“Our plaintiffs have qualified for carry permits or licenses in their own states,” Gottlieb said, “which means they have gone through background checks and other requirements that show they are responsible, law-abiding citizens. Yet, because of the current Illinois statute, their self-defense rights are suspended immediately after they cross the Illinois state line.”

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Illinois State Police Director Hiram Grau and Jessica Trame, bureau chief of the State Police Firearms Service Bureau. Plaintiffs are represented by attorney David Sigale of Glen Ellyn, Ill.

“This lawsuit,” said Sigale, “is brought because it is unfair that otherwise qualified people from states outside Illinois, who work and travel in Illinois are barred from obtaining means to defend themselves in public solely based on their state of residence. We expect to correct that.”

“We’re asking the federal court for a declaratory judgment on equal protection and due process constitutional grounds,” Gottlieb stated. “It makes no sense at all for Illinois to enforce such a narrowly-defined law that seems to recognize the rights of some non-residents, while dismissing the rights of most other non-residents. We can’t allow that kind of discriminatory situation to stand.”

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Gabby Does North Carolina

October 22, 2014 by 1 Comment

The title of this post is a play on that classic porn film Debby Does Dallas. Just like in the movie, someone is going to get screwed. In this case, it is the gun owners of North Carolina if Gabby (and the Space Cowboy) have their way.

Americans for Responsible Solutions (sic) has just dropped $330,168 into the US Senate race in North Carolina on behalf of Kay Hagan. The money is going towards Internet ads pushing Kay Hagan from an agency called Revolution Messaging. They bill themselves as a digital ad agency for progressive causes and their client list reads like a who’s who of the left.

A couple of examples of their work are below.

The ads, which appear targeted towards either women or young voters, link to a site called Commonsense Voter that captures your name and email along with your promise to vote early.

As to Kay Hagan being North Carolina through and through, give me a break. She may have been born in Shelby but she grew up in Lakeland, Florida where her dad was the mayor. Even when she first ran for office in 1998, she called upon her uncle for help. Her uncle was former US Senator and Florida Governor Lawton Chiles.

UPDATE: I came across another of these ads in the most unusual of place. It was Sharyl Attkisson’s new webpage involving a discussion of the 1,323 page list of the documents being withheld by Obama in the Operation Fast and Furious scandal.

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Billionaires Aren’t The Only Ones Pumping Money Into Washington State

October 21, 2014 by 4 Comments

I did a post last month detailing all the money being pumped into Washington State in support of the gun control initiative I-594. At that time, five billionaires and one very rich woman from an “old Seattle family” had cumulatively put in almost 75% of the monies in support of the initiative. Since then, Michael Bloomberg, through his Everytown Moms for Illegal Mayors, has pumped another $950,000 into the effort along with at least $350,000 from the coterie of billionaires.

It looks like Gabby Giffords and the Space Cowboy (aka Mark Kelly) have gotten involved as well. Through their Americans for Responsible Solutions (sic), they have donated $229,091 for in-kind direct mail services. It is the largest in-kind donation of the campaign. The majority of the other in-kind services is coming from the Win/Win Network (a coalition of unions and left-wing groups) and the True Patriot Network which is run by billionaire Nick Hanauer.

I have to give Washington State kudos for their Public Disclosure Commission reporting system. It is much more up-to-date on contributions that the Federal Election Commission system.

From the Federal Election Commission

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Cornell University Says Kill The Townies

October 21, 2014 by 1 Comment

In the battle between town and gown, Cornell University is going after the townies and they want them killed.

You can relax a little. Cornell isn’t trying to kill local Ithaca conservatives though it may have crossed the mind of some campus radicals. The Ithaca townies in this case are not the two legged variety but rather the four-legged cloven-hoofed variety with flashy white tails.

It seems that Cornell University is overrun with whitetail deer. You need to remember that Cornell is a weird hybrid in that it is both a liberal arts Ivy League school and a land-grant university with many test farms. It is this latter part of the campus that is the great attraction to the deer combining as it does food, shelter, and lack of predators.

According to a report by Professor William Jacobson at the Legal Insurrection, the university came up with a two-part plan to control the great numbers of deer attracted to its campus. In a move that would warm the cockles of Sandra Fluke’s heart, on-campus deer are given free, permanent birth control. They got tubal ligations. Meanwhile, off-campus deer were subject to a controlled hunting program with emphasis on killing does.

The plan was an expensive failure as Professor Jacobson describes in this interview with Cam Edwards.

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Biggest Failures Of His Tenure?

October 21, 2014 by 1 Comment

Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder named as the biggest failure of his tenure – the lack of more gun control. Moreover, it “weighs heavily” on his mind.

“I think the inability to pass reasonable gun safety laws after the Newtown massacre is something that weighs heavily on my mind,” Holder said during an interview aired on CNN.

I can think of things that should weigh heavier on his mind like 300 dead Mexican nationals and 2 Federal law enforcement officer. And as Katie Pavlich reports, Project Gunwalker AKs were still being found at Arizona crime scenes as late as 2013.

Holder goes on to say:

“And the thought that we could not translate that horror into reasonable — I mean, really reasonable gun safety measures that were supported by the vast majority of the American people is for me something that I take personally as a failure,” he said, “and something that I think we as a society should take as a failure, a glaring failure, that I hope will ultimately be rectified.”

While Holder may look upon this as a failure, those of us who believe that 20,000 existing gun control laws is more than enough (and less would be better) would look upon it as one of the few accomplishments of his reign at DOJ. If Holder really wants to look at failures, he should look at how his tenure at Justice has politicized that department far and above anything that could have been dreamed up by Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell.