Month: November 2014

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At The Eleventh Hour On The Eleventh Day

November 11, 2014 by 2 Comments

Today is Veterans Day. Up until 1954, it was known simply as Armistice Day. The change came about due to the efforts of WWII veteran Raymond Weeks who had the idea to celebrate all veterans and not just the veterans of WWI. Thus, I would like to give my thanks to all veterans, living and dead, for their service to our country.

Armistice Day which commemorates the end of WWI got me to thinking about my grandfathers. While neither served in WWI, I was able to find their draft cards.

My paternal grandfather, William Thomas Richardson, was a farmer and had four children when he registered for the draft in 1918. My father did not come along until 1919.

My maternal grandfather, John Francis Sheridan, was a tax assessor with the City of New York. He registered for the draft in 1917. He did not marry my grandmother until 1918 and my mother was born in 1919. My mother told me that he was always disappointed that he was turned down for service due to his eyesight.

If you look at the lower left corner of my Grandfather Sheridan’s draft registration, you will see a tab that reads, “If person is of African descent, tear off this corner.” I find it interesting that this is on the card belonging to my grandfather residing in New York and not the one residing in North Carolina.

I found these on Ancestry.com. Today it is free to search their military records collection. They have draft cards from WWI and WWII as well as US Navy ship muster rolls. If you want to do more in-depth searching on an ancestor’s US military background, you can get records from the National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records.

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If This Holds Up, It Will Be A Big Slap In The Face To Gabby Giffords And ARS (Updated)

November 10, 2014 by 3 Comments

Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly have a lot invested in keeping her old Arizona seat Democratic. It is currently held by Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ) who was Giffords’ congressional district director. He was wounded in the same attack that injured Giffords.

Giffords and her gun control organization Americans for Responsible Solutions have poured approximately $2 million into the district for ads attacking Col. Martha McSally USAF (Ret). McSally lost to Barber for the same seat in 2012. According to the latest Federal Elections Commission reports, they put in over $500,000 in the first half of October alone.

Americans for Responsible Solutions had been running the ad below which was inaccurate. They removed it 24 hours before it was supposed to go off the air. Politico ran a full story on Giffords’ and ARS’ misleading attacks on McSally. They claimed it was because McSally reversed her position on stalkers and guns.

Thus, it has to be a big slap in the face to Gabby, Mark, and Americans for Responsible Solutions to see McSally leading Barber by 36 votes with the ballots from Cochise County yet to be counted.

Technical problems with voting machines in Cochise County have delayed results in the region’s most-watched race, but it could bode well for GOP challenger Martha McSally.

She and Democrat Ron Barber, the incumbent, were separated by only 36 votes, according to the latest totals this morning.

However, Cochise County tallies are missing and McSally was expected to have another strong showing in the county she won in 2012 by 59 percent to 41 percent.

 McSally currently has 78,785 votes to Barber’s 78,749 with 49 precincts uncounted.

If things go the way that they should, McSally will win this race. Assuming that happens, it will be amusing to see how Giffords and Kelly and their henchmen at Americans for Responsible Solutions spin the result. There is just no way to do it without looking foolish.

UPDATE: According to the official Arizona Secretary of State election returns, Martha McSally is leading  Rep. Ron Barber by 2,078 votes with all precincts reporting. The final unofficial tally is 90,345 votes for McSally and 88,267 votes for Barber.

No word yet from Giffords. Barber’s camp released a statement that they are waiting for the early ballots to be counted and won’t concede until then. There is no time stamp on their statement so I don’t know if it was before or after McSally took a 2,000 vote lead.

UPDATE II: Even with more early and provisional ballots having been counted, Martha McSally still maintains a slight lead over Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ). It now stands at a 363 vote lead with McSally having won 98,918 votes and Barber 98,555. This reminds me in a way of when Al Franken first won over Norm Coleman in Minnesota. It was not declared over until enough votes had been found to put the Democrat in the lead.

The Tucson Daily Star reports that Barber has sent out a fundraising appeal for a recount. They report this is unusual because the state would pay for any recount. As it is, unless the margin drops to 200 votes, a recount is not ordered.

UPDATE III: Martha McSally maintains a 341 vote lead going into Monday. There are still reported to be 9,000 provisional ballots left to be counted in Pima County.

The McSally campaign has threatened a lawsuit to stop the counting of those ballots that don’t have the required signature from an election official. Barber’s campaign officials are calling this an effort “to disenfranchise” voters. I guess what the Barber folks really object to is having their ballot box stuffing called out.

I just hope that McSally isn’t “Al Franken’ed” by Arizona election officials. The good news is that Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett is a Republican.

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Outdoor Channel Parent Buys The Sportsman Channel

November 9, 2014 by

Denver-based Kroenke Sports and Entertainment is the parent company of the Outdoor Channel. It will now also be the parent company of the Sportsman Channel. They announced on Friday that they have purchased InterMedia Outdoor Holdings, Inc. from the private equity group InterMedia Partners VII, LP. In addition to the Sportsman Channel, they received 15 magazines, 17 websites, and TV production facilities.

According to their press release, they plan to operate the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel separately. They consider the acquisition to be a highly complementary transaction. Matt Hutchings, COO, of KSE had this to say:

“The addition of InterMedia’s outdoor assets to KSE is a natural fit and gives us the most diverse portfolio of media offerings in the outdoor lifestyle space. We look forward to providing our employees and talent with expanded opportunities to collaborate and take advantage of our resources. We are also excited about providing our business partners, advertisers and distributors with an unprecedented platform reaching millions of hunters, anglers and outdoor adventure seekers. We will spend the coming months laying the groundwork to fully maximize the reach and effectiveness of our newly acquired portfolio.”

The publications that will now be owned by KSE include:

  • Bowhunter
  • Peterson’s Bowhunter
  • Gun Dog
  • Peterson’s Hunting
  • North American Whitetail
  • Wildfowl
  • Game & Fish
  • Fly Fisherman
  • Florida Sportsman
  • In-Fisherman
  • Guns & Ammo
  • Shooting Times
  • Peterson’s Rifle Shooter
  • Guns & Ammo Handguns
  • Shotgun News

Kroenke has picked up some venerable shooting publications in Guns & Ammo and Shotgun News. Moreover, Fly Fisherman was the first magazine to specialize in fly fishing. I still have some of the very first issues. Likewise, Gun Dog was the first in its category.

I hope this acquisition works out well for all involved.

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A Few Quick Thoughts On The Election

November 5, 2014 by 2 Comments

We won more than we lost yesterday and for that I’m thankful.

The US Senate will return to Republican hands. As it stands now, they have a seven seat pickup with two more probable wins in Louisiana and Alaska. Virginia is still amazingly close with about a 12,000 vote margin as of dawn. I’d say the Supreme Court is protected so long as the Lindsey Grahams and John McCains don’t go all wobbly on us.

I’m very happy to say that North Carolina went for Tillis. While he is an establishment Republican and wasn’t the most exciting candidate, we did get a lot of good pro-gun reforms passed while he was Speaker of the NC House.

It looks like Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) will pull through barely as will Gov. Dannel Malloy (C-CT). Both look to win within the margin of fraud. Given that Colorado has mail-in voting, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a number of votes for Hickenlooper coming from those ineligible to vote such as aliens and felons.

Billionaires proved that you can buy elections in Washington State. The I-594 initiative won 59.7% of the vote. Looking at maps of the vote last night, it appeared to be Puget Sound versus the rest of the state (Spokane excepted). The best thing you can say about this win is that it was an initiative and not a constitutional amendment. As Miko Tempski explained to me, an initiative can’t be altered by the Washington State legislature for two years and then all bets are off. So, for the next two years, don’t loan or hand your firearm to anyone if you live in Washington State.

More later as work does call and I haven’t had enough coffee.

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Will Gecko Lures Be Banned At Geico Bassmaster Classic?

November 4, 2014 by 5 Comments

I read a press release this morning on The Outdoor Wire that said GEICO Insurance was going to be the title sponsor of the Bassmaster Classic.

Bass anglers use a number of interesting lures including soft plastic lizards and geckos.

That raises the question – given that the gecko is the advertising symbol of GEICO Insurance, will it be a banned lure at the GEICO Bassmaster Classic? After all, they have banned other lures in the past.

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“More Weed. Less War”

November 4, 2014 by

And in the running for the most inane political ad of the year is this one from the American Future Fund. It popped up on me as I was playing one of those silly (but oh so addictive) Facebook games.

Supposedly these ads are paid for by “the evil Koch Brothers”. According to NPR – hardly an unbiased source – they funded these ads to siphon off votes from Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) in her race with Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg).

Given how Hagan constantly appealed to low information voters and made the US Senate race seem more like a school board election, I’d say it is just desserts.

Remember hipsters, “Get High, Get Haugh” has a better vibe than “Get High, Get Hagan”.

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Vote Tomorrow As If Your Gun Rights Depend Upon It

November 4, 2014 by

Because they do.

Many things the Republicans do don’t thrill me. However, both Heller and McDonald were 5-4 votes. Justices Scalia and Kennedy are both 78 years old. The only justice that is older is Justice Ginsberg at 81. All three could live years more or all three could die in the next two years giving President Obama up to three appointments to the Supreme Court. A Republican majority in the US Senate is the only fire wall we have to prevent three anti-gun justices.

Almost as important are the appointments to the District and Appeals Court level. These are lifetime appointments and we have seen how many of these judges have struggled to find any justification they can to deny Second Amendment rights.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation and their #Gunvote campaign have got it right in the video below. The Senate is the key.

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I-594: The Claim And The Reality

November 3, 2014 by 2 Comments

Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility is the pro-gun control group funded by billionaires that is pushing I-594 in Washington State. This initiative, if passed, would mandate background checks for all sales and transfers.

One of their ads claims that you can buy guns at gun shows and off the Internet with “no questions asked”. The ad shows someone typing in the URL for Gunbroker.com. I have purchased a couple of firearms off of Gunbroker.com myself over the years. They were either shipped to my local dealer where I had to fill out a Form 4473 and be checked or they were shipped to me directly because it was a firearm considered a curio or relic. I have a C&R FFL.

You can see this ad below:

Steve Urvan, CEO of Gunbroker.com, took exception to this ad impugning the reputation of his company. In the release below, he points out the reality.

Recently a Washington state gun control lobbying group called The Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility published an advertisement and YouTube video that included a scene in which GunBroker.com was typed into a browser. The video includes the words “NO QUESTIONS ASKED” and states that criminals who fail background checks can go online and buy guns.

This ad is both misleading the public and impugning the reputation of GunBroker.com by depicting our company’s name being typed into a search engine with the direct suggestion that we would enable an illegal transfer of a firearm. This is false and certainly libelous.

As we clearly state on our website, all transactions on GunBroker.com are made in full compliance with all federal state, and local laws, using licensed federal firearms dealers as transfer agents. Federal law requires those dealers to run a background check on the buyer. There is a strict compliance system in place and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms audits dealers for compliance.

The Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility obviously did no research when creating this ad. Every listing on the GunBroker.com site states, in red letters for emphasis:

“Firearms may only be shipped to a licensed dealer (FFL Holder)”.

The Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility needs to act responsibly themselves. We demand that they take down their erroneous ads and videos and apologize to GunBroker.com and the voters of Washington State for this irresponsible misrepresentation in the pursuit of their political agenda.

Regarding background checks and specifically I-594, I urge all www.GunBroker.com members to take the time to get out and vote on Tuesday November 4 and defeat anti-gun bills like I-594 and anti-gun legislators. Below are some links you may find useful:

https://www.voteno594.com/
http://www.nssf.org/gunvote/
http://www.nraila.org/
Sincerely,

Steve Urvan,
CEO, GunBroker.com