My spam blocker requires me to approve all comments. While tedious, it protects you the reader from offers for fake Viagra, other drugs, marriage brokers from 3rd world or ex-Communist countries, and psychics among others.
However, now and then I get a spam comment that makes me laugh.
Herewith is the spam comment from a “Therese Bisdee”:
Hello there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really enjoy your content.
Please let me know. Thanks
Myspace? Really?
While Myspace actually still exists, this is not 2005 when it was in its heyday. A quick scan seems to indicate it is mostly music and video content.
The comment of the day comes from a blog post by Massad Ayoob.
It comes from his post entitled Pandemic or Dem Panic in which Mas describes what he heard on talk radio during a 20 hour road trip to give a class in Mississippi.
On a recent teaching run in Mississippi I spent close to 20 hours driving along the Gulf Coast, and radio news had damn near nothing to discuss but the Kung Flu and the two rich old white guys the Party of Diversity had narrowed it down to.
On the pandemic front, some commentators were making it sound like we were on the cusp of a dystopian “Walking Dead” scenario, though so far the only zombie that’s come back from the dead is Joe Biden’s viability as the Democrats’ nominee. On February 11, I wrote in another gun-related forum, “Looks as if the operative syllable in ‘Biden’ may be ‘Bye.’” Wow. That changed quickly.
Joe Biden as a zombie.
His recent behavior on the campaign trail is now starting to make sense.
Of course, if you don’t believe in zombies, there is always the strong possibility that Biden is showing signs of age-related dementia.
Now it seems that in addition to the run on toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, bleach, and antibacterial soap, you can add ammunition to the list.
The panic buying of toilet paper and cleaning supplies that have temporarily left store shelves bare is also starting to be seen in gun stores around the country, and it may soon have an impact on the availability of some common types of ammunition in the days and weeks ahead.
On Twitter, I asked folks who’d gone shopping in the past 24 hours to chime in and report on what store shelves looked like while they were in their local gun store. Plenty of people reported back on bare shelves, particularly for 9mm and .223/5.56 rounds.
He goes on to explain that any shortage probably will not be as the result of the difficulty in obtaining the raw materials – lead, copper, and brass – but the possibility that factories might be forced to close temporarily due to COVID-19.
The Power Line Blog which is not a gun blog had this anecdotal report. It came from an unnamed friend who wished to be anonymous and who goes to the range and gun store three times a week on average.
But today it wasn’t my place. It was a damn mess.
People, people, people! Everybody is buying guns. It happens every time apocalypse fever fills the air, animated by crazed dreams of civil breakdown, too many viewings of Mad Max, food shortage, the whimsy of life and death, and anyone’s aching need to protect children, spouse and self. This time it’s COVID-19, but it could be any dodgy possibility as sustained and amplified by the willfully ignorant.
So as I sat there in the crowd, waiting for my turn to get to the firing line, I wondered: Who ARE they?
They’re not conservatives. Conservatives already have their guns, many of them of the so-helpful AR and AK variant, and many boxes—and crates and pallets—of ammo. That’s because apocalyptic thinking is never far from the conservative mind, with its realthink about the evil that men do and how quickly they can do it. It wasn’t a liberal who said, “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.”
So what can you do if your local gun store has run out of either your favorite caliber or your preferred brand?
May I suggest going to Luckygunner.com. You can find your ammo, you will pay a fair price, and it will be delivered to you at home. Click on the banner to go to their website.
I should also note that I am an affiliate of Luckygunner.com and have been since 2011. I will earn a small commission that helps this blog and it won’t cost you any extra. I personally know many of the people there and they are good folks.
With all the talk in the media being on coronavirus, canceled events, and even season cancellations, I thought it would be appropriate to present something different. It’s a good way to start your weekend.
Outdoor writer and big game hunter Ron Spomer discusses one of the more unusual and interesting rifles that I’ve ever seen. It is the Hoenig round action double rifle. This example is in 9.3×62 which is quite popular in Europe.
The creator, George Hoenig, has retired from gunsmithing so if you want one of these beauties, it will come from the secondary market. According to what he said in the interview, the last ones he sold new went for $27,500.
That’s a bit rich for my blood but I can still appreciate his expertise and craftsmanship.
As an aside, I got to chat with Ron at the SHOT Show. What a nice guy!
The release from NRA President Carolyn Meadows stated:
With our 149th Annual Meeting scheduled for next month in Nashville, we realize many NRA members and meeting guests have questions about the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the potential impact on our convention.
We have been closely monitoring updates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Tennessee Department of Health. In fact, earlier today, a state of emergency was declared in Tennessee.
Therefore, we have reluctantly decided to cancel this year’s NRA Annual Meeting, planned for April 16 – 19 in Nashville. This applies to all events and scheduled programs, including the NRA-ILA Forum. We sincerely regret the need for this action, particularly for our many loyal members who join us for this annual celebration of the NRA and our constitutional freedoms. Details regarding the NRA Member’s Meeting will be forthcoming.
Under the direction of NRA President Carolyn Meadows, the NRA Board of Directors is working with the Office of the Secretary in relation to board elections, meetings, and the like.
Please know that we did not reach this decision lightly. We were ultimately guided by our responsibility to help ensure the safety and well-being of our NRA members, guests, and surrounding community.
Please coordinate directly with any hotels, airlines or others who have assisted with your travel arrangements. Most companies have announced plans to accommodate travelers dealing with event cancellations.
Please visit www.nraam.org for additional news and information regarding NRA activities. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
The message that accompanied this release noted that the Annual Meeting of Members will be rescheduled.
To be honest, with the impact of the tornado on Nashville plus the uncertainty over COVID-19 it was inevitable that this was going to happen. If they didn’t do it and just one person got sick or died after contact with an infected person, there would have been hell to pay.
If you have made plane or hotel reservations, most, if not all, companies are allowing them to be canceled with no cancellation fees, etc.
Speaking of coronavirus, this would be a good time to read or re-read Grant Cunningham’s compilation of suggestions and advice on dealing with the pandemic. I do think many people are overreacting as evidenced by the run on toilet paper. An elderly friend today told me the local Walmart not only had a run on toilet paper but on his Pet Ice Cream.
If you have made plane or hotel reservations, most are allowing them to be canceled with no cancellation fees, etc.
Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) today declared a state of emergency that covers all of North Carolina. It was declared in response to the spread of COVID-19 or the coronavirus. As of Monday, there have been seven confirmed cases of it with six of those in Wake County and the seventh in Chatham County. For non-North Carolinians, that is Raleigh and the Pittsboro/Siler City areas.
Governor Roy Cooper took the next step in the state’s coronavirus COVID-19 preparedness plan today and issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency. The declaration activates the Emergency Operations Center to help agencies coordinate from one location and makes it easier to purchase needed medical supplies, protect consumers from price gouging, and increase county health departments’ access to state funds…
Key provisions in the order are similar to those enacted in a natural disaster. The order will help with the cost burdens and supplies that may be difficult for providers and public health to access due to increased demand. It also increases the state public health department’s role in supporting local health departments, which have been tasked with monitoring quarantines, tracing exposure and administering testing.
Executive Order No. 116 in its entirety is found here.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane back to January 2010 when there was a heavy snow storm in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The City of King and Stokes County were particularly hard hit. In response, Gov. Beverly Perdue and both locales declared states of emergency. This automatically triggered then NC General Statute § 14-288.7(a) which provided, in part,:
“it is unlawful for any person to transport or possess off his own premises any dangerous weapon or substance in any area: (1) In which a declared state of emergency exists; or (2) Within the immediate vicinity of which a riot is occurring.”
The City of King went further and invoked their powers under NC General Statute § 14-288.12(b). This “forbade the sale or purchase of firearms and ammunition, as well as the possession of firearms and ammunition off an individual’s premises.” It also banned the sale of alcoholic beverages.
Thus, any time a state of emergency covering all of North Carolina or any time a city or county declared a state of emergency, § 14-288.7(a) kicked in and you could not carry a firearm outside your own home. There were no exceptions made for those of us who hold a Concealed Handgun Permit.
Fast forward a few months to June and the US Supreme Court handled down a monumental Second Amendment ruling. That was, of course, McDonald v. Chicago which applied the Second Amendment as an individual right to the states under the 14th Amendment. That was on the morning of June 28, 2010.
The problem here is that the emergency declaration statutes, are not narrowly tailored to serve the government’s interest in public safety. They do not target dangerous individuals or dangerous conduct. Nor do they seek to impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions by, for example, imposing a curfew to allow the exercise of Second Amendment rights during circumscribed times. Rather, the statutes here excessively intrude upon plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights by effectively banning them (and the public at large) from engaging in conduct that is at the very core of the Second Amendment at a time when the need for self-defense may be at its very greatest. See Heller, 128 S. Ct. at 2799 (” [A] mericans understood the ‘right of self-preservation’ as permitting a citizen to ‘repe[l] force by force’ when ‘the intervention of society in his behalf, may be too late to prevent an injury. ‘ ” (quoting 1 Blackstone’s Commentaries 145-146, n.42 (1803) ) (second alteration in original)) . Consequently, the emergency declaration laws are invalid as applied to plaintiffs.
Thanks to Alan Gura, the Second Amendment Foundation, and Grass Roots North Carolina just because seven people have COVID-19 and the governor has declared a state of emergency you can no longer be disarmed. We owe them and the individual plaintiffs a debt of gratitude.
I helped manage the Grass Roots North Carolina booth at the Asheville Gun Show yesterday. I wasn’t there the whole day but here are some quick takes on it.
The fear of coronavirus did not stop people from attending. The crowds seemed to be every bit as big as from the January show. As I noted then, we hadn’t seen crowds like this since 2014.
I did notice booths selling MREs, Mountain House freeze-dry packs, and other emergency foods. No toilet paper sellers that I noticed.
Insofar as people wearing face masks, I only saw two older gentlemen wearing N95 masks.
There were a lot of MAGA red hats in evidence. Then there was the guy wearing the t-shirt saying, “Only Trump Can Prevent Socialism”. It was similar to this one. The difference was that it replaced “you” with “Trump” and had the bear pointing.
The guy wearing the shirt commented that the gun show was probably the only place he could wear it without being hassled. Given the progressive/liberal/radical proclivities of Asheville, I fear he was correct.
Russia’s Education Ministry has released methodological guidelines for schoolteachers to use on November 10, the 100th anniversary of Mikhail Kalashnikov’s birth. The guidelines call for a nationwide lesson on the inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle, arguing that such a class will foster patriotism, help schoolchildren form a Russian identity, allow them to understand the value of defending their fatherland, and facilitate interest in military service down the line.
Imagine if American schools – other than places like Trinidad Junior College or Montgomery Community College – had similar programs like that commemorating the contributions of John Moses Browning, John C. Garand, or Eugene Stoner to the American military and American history.
Mike Bloomberg ended his quest for the Democrat presidential nomination yesterday. He found that his “Super Tuesday Strategy” didn’t work and that his ubiquitous ads were not enough to convince primary voters to support him.
As it was, Bloomberg only won American Samoa. The big winner on Tuesday was “Slow Joe” Biden followed closely by Bernie Sanders. Between them, they split the majority of the delegates up for grabs.
Perhaps the best comment on Bloomberg’s huge expenditures for his campaign came from Kyle Kashuv on Twitter.
Trump got Bloomberg to infuse 700 million into the economy..
Bloomberg has now endorsed Joe Biden. I think it will be reasonable to expect to see Bloomberg’s Independence USA PAC plus the Everytown Action Fund spending heavily in support of Biden and other Democrats throughout the rest of the election cycle.
The bottom line is that Bloomberg and his money will continue to remain a threat to our freedoms and our rights.
So to end, here is a little Beatles to brighten up your Thursday.
Justice Neil Gorsuch agreed with the decision to deny certiorari in the case given it had not been fully briefed and argued on the merits. He did think the Court of Appeals made an error in relying on Chevron deference in this case because it involves a criminal penalty. He also noted that both the plaintiffs and the government had expressly argued that any decision should not rely on Chevron deference.
Gorsuch referred to the BATFE’s actions on reclassifying bump stocks as “bureaucratic pirouetting”.
Chevron’s application in this case may be doubtful for other reasons too. The agency used to tell everyone that bump stocks don’t qualify as “machineguns.” Now it says the opposite. The law hasn’t changed, only an agency’s interpretation of it. And these days it sometimes seems agencies change their statutory interpretations almost as often as elections change administrations. How, in all this, can ordinary citizens be expected to keep up—required not only to conform their conduct to the fairest reading of the law they might expect from a neutral judge, but forced to guess whether the statute will be declared ambiguous; to guess again whether the agency’s initial interpretation of the law will be declared “reasonable”; and to guess again whether a later and opposing agency interpretation will also be held “reasonable”? And why should courts, charged with the independent and neutral interpretation of the laws Congress has enacted, defer to such bureaucratic pirouetting?
If I had to hazard a guess, when this or one of the sister cases involving the reinterpretation of the NFA to ban bump stocks does come before the Supreme Court fully briefed on the merits, Gorsuch will most definitely be in favor of hearing the case. Moreover, I would go further and say he would not find in favor of BATFE.
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