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What Moe Davis Really Thinks Of You

July 15, 2020 by 1 Comment

Moe Davis – excuse me – Col. Morris Davis USAF (Ret) – is the Democrat nominee for the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina. The race between Davis and Madison Cawthorn (R) is to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) when he left to become President Trump’s Chief of Staff.

Davis’ claim to fame is that he resigned as chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay rather than use some evidence obtained by water boarding. Davis said this was torture. He was overruled by superiors, resigned as the prosecutor, and retired soon thereafter. He may have been right, he may have been wrong.

After bouncing around a number of legal positions, mostly governmental, post-retirement, he decided to run for Congress from North Carolina. This brings me to a tweet he made in 2019 that was pointed out to me this morning.

Now anyone who has read my blog for any bit of time knows I think Wayne LaPierre needs to go. The suits, the plane travel, and most of all the money spent on William Brewer III has hurt the NRA and its mission. He needs to take a lot of his cronies with him.

However, I do not think people who have donated to the NRA or bought memberships are idiots. Moreover, it is not a “terrorist organization” and to call it that is the height of demagoguery. That Moe Davis was the Chief Prosecutor at Guantanamo whose job it was to prosecute actual terrorists only compounds it.

It might interest Davis to know that Justice Steven David of the Indiana Supreme Court was one of the speakers in 2019 at the NRA’s National Firearms Law Seminar. Prior to being appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court, David had been Chief Defense Counsel at Guantanamo Bay concurrent with Davis’ time there. Indeed, Davis, after resigning as prosecutor, served as a witness for the defense led by Justice David in a case.

Like I said, Davis is engaging in hypocritical demagoguery. I am sure the voters of the 11th District, especially those outside the city limits of Asheville, might disagree with his assessment that the NRA is a “terrorist organization”. If I were Madison Cawthorn and his team I’d be putting this out on ads everywhere.

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A Machine Gun On Your C&R License?

July 15, 2020 by 2 Comments

Yes, you can use your C&R (Curios & Relics) License to purchase a machine gun. There are unfortunately a lot of caveats.

From Ian McCollum:

The short version is that a C&R license does not allow you to skip the NFA transfer process. You still must submit fingerprints and photographs, and wait 6-9 months for your tax stamp to be processed. Once it is approved, however, a C&R eligible machine gun can be shipped interstate to you, without having to go through an NFA dealer in your state.

For the record, the ATF has a document which lists C&R eligible firearms (https://www.atf.gov/file/128116/download). In addition, any firearms 50 years old or older is also considered a Curio & Relic…which now includes every gun registered in the 1968 amnesty.

John Keene of Morphy Auctions goes into more detail in this short video with Ian.

So, if you have the money (and lots of it), you could get that Thompson, that MP40, that Lewis Gun, that fill-in-the-blank machine gun, shipped directly to your house if you have a Curios & Relics license. Oh, and are willing to wait many months and don’t live in a state that has a total ban on machine guns.

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Happy Bastille Day

July 14, 2020 by 2 Comments

The storming of the Bastille in Paris happened on this day in 1789. It was one of the defining moments of the French Revolution and is considered the symbolic start.

The French usually mark it with military parades and jet flyovers. They will still have those but it will be different. I think the picture below captures the difference.

This spring and summer have felt a bit like the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror that followed. Instead of crowds chanting, “Liberté, égalité, fraternité“, we hear “tear it down”.

Instead of the unity and indivisibility proclaimed in the poster, it feels more like disunity and division.

I read something this morning regarding revolution and specifically why revolutions fail. The great Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke was quoted. One of his great works is Reflections on the Revolution in France. It is considered one of the great works of conservative thought.

As the article noted:

In his “Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Burke warned of political revolutions that despise everything that came before them: “People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.”

We know the rest of the story. Barely a decade after executing their hated monarch—and after years of political instability, social chaos, and the remorseless violence of the guillotine—the freedom-loving revolutionaries installed an emperor to replace him. Napoleon Bonaparte, dictator for life, would plunge continental Europe into war.

Antifa, anarchy, the tearing down of statues, cancel culture, the subservience of “progressive” politicians to the mobs, etc, etc. It feels like a modern day version of 1793 France and I, for one, am fearful of the consequences. The longer it goes on, the more it takes a life of its own. Politicians who are now using it for their own political ends and think they can control it will soon find themselves at the mercy of the mob just like Maximilien Robespierre.

Perhaps the best way I can celebrate Bastille Day is to go to the range and shoot my Manurhin MR-88 revolver.

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Another Perspective On The H652 Over-Ride Failure

July 11, 2020 by 2 Comments

I have known Dean Weingarten for a number of years now. He is one of the good guys and he does good work. However, sometimes an outsider’s perspective is very different from that of someone closer to the action. Such is the case with the failure to over-ride Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of H652 – Second Amendment Protection Act.

In an Ammoland.com article entitled, “Rogue Republicans and Democrats Join Forces to uphold NC Governor Veto of Gun Reform”, Dean asserts that nine Democrats and five Republicans “changed their vote”.

Yes and no.

You had six members of the House who had excused absences on July 8th – one Democrat and five Republicans. Their absences lowered the threshold for a veto over-ride from 72 to 69. It should be remembered that the North Carolina General Assembly is a part-time job for which members are paid less than $15,000 annually plus per diem. There are going to be conflicts especially when the General Assembly is being called back and again as the session drags on much longer than normal thanks to gubernatorial vetoes and court actions involving redistricting.

On the day that the bill originally passed, June 25th, all six of these House members were present. Rep. Kelly Alexander (D-Mecklenburg) voted Nay that day. Republicans Ted Davis (New Hanover), Jeff Elmore (Avery & Wilkes), Donny Lambeth (Forsyth), David Rogers (Burke & Rutherford), and Larry Yarborough (Granville & Person) all voted Aye.

Conversely, on June 25th, Democrats Cecil Brockman (Guilford), Carla Cunningham (Mecklenburg), Susan Fisher (Buncombe), Verla Insko (Orange), and Evelyn Terry (Forsyth) were given execused absences. There were no Republicans absent that day.

H652 passed on June 25th with a total of 77 votes – 65 Republicans and 12 Democrats. It was only a veto-proof majority if, and only if, enough Democrats stuck with their original vote to provide the margin. The Republicans lost their super-majority in both houses of the General Assembly in the 2018 election. They must have Democrats cross over to over-ride any veto. That is the bottom line.

Dean noted that nine Democrats changed their votes. This is in error.

You have the five that were originally absent now voting Nay. you have the excused absence of Rep. Kelly Alexander (D-Mecklenburg) who had voted Nay, and you have six – not four- who originally voted in favor of the bill now voting to sustain the governor’s veto. I did a long post on those six. Dean missed that Rep. Brian Turner (D-Buncombe) and Rep. Marvin Lucas (D-Cumberland) switched their original Aye votes to Nay.

Dean mentions a vote that was 67-47. That vote was merely to call the bill to be voted on in the House. That vote only needed a majority to pass and not the super-majority required for a veto over-ride.

I think it is an error to call the Republicans who had an excused absence “rogue”. Gov. Roy Cooper has issued more vetoes than all the other governors combined since that power was granted to them. In this current session, Cooper has issued 25 vetoes. None, I repeat none, have been overturned. The only thing that would have changed if all of those five had been there is that the number of Democrats voting Aye would have been zero. Some of these Republicans are outstanding on gun rights, a couple just so-so, and all are better than their Democrat opponents in November when it comes to gun rights.

Dean is absolutely correct on two things.

Governors frequently offer rewards and twist arms to have legislators change their vote in veto override attempts.

In these votes, the progressive media favors those in favor of infringing on Second Amendment rights, which gives cover for those who change their votes.

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The Biden Gun Tax

July 10, 2020 by 2 Comments

If you own an AR or AK or anything remotely classified as an “assault weapon” (sic) or own a standard capacity magazine, then a President Biden would allow you to keep them. That is, provided that you registered each and every item with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives as a National Firearms Act item and pay the $200 tax for each and every item.

Used with permission.

Don’t believe me. Here is what it says on his campaign website.

  • Ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Federal law prevents hunters from hunting migratory game birds with more than three shells in their shotgun. That means our federal law does more to protect ducks than children. It’s wrong. Joe Biden will enact legislation to once again ban assault weapons. This time, the bans will be designed based on lessons learned from the 1994 bans. For example, the ban on assault weapons will be designed to prevent manufacturers from circumventing the law by making minor changes that don’t limit the weapon’s lethality. While working to pass this legislation, Biden will also use his executive authority to ban the importation of assault weapons. 
  • Regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act. Currently, the National Firearms Act requires individuals possessing machine-guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles to undergo a background check and register those weapons with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Due to these requirements, such weapons are rarely used in crimes. As president, Biden will pursue legislation to regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act. 
  • Buy back the assault weapons and high-capacity magazines already in our communities. Biden will also institute a program to buy back weapons of war currently on our streets. This will give individuals who now possess assault weapons or high-capacity magazines two options: sell the weapons to the government, or register them under the National Firearms Act.

You need to read the whole thing. It is compendium of every item that you could possibly think of on the gun prohibitionists’ wish list.

And by the way Joe, the Second Amendment has nothing to do with duck hunting.

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2020 NRA BOD Election Results

July 10, 2020 by 2 Comments

The election results for the NRA Board of Directors has finally been released. All candidates were notified earlier today of their success or lack thereof.

Here are the results in order of votes received:

ELECTED TO THREE-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2023

  1. Jay Printz
  2. J. William Carter
  3. Charles L. Cotton
  4. Linda Walker
  5. Judi White
  6. Leroy Sisco
  7. Howard J. Walter
  8. Graham Hill
  9. Mark E. Vaughan
  10. Thomas P. Arvas
  11. Ted W. Carter
  12. Barbara Rumpel
  13. Phillip B. Journey
  14. Steven C. Schreiner
  15. Todd J. Rathner
  16. Richard Figueroa
  17. J. Kenneth Blackwell
  18. Carl Rowan, Jr.
  19. Curtis S. Jenkins
  20. Herbert A. Lanford, Jr.
  21. Allan D. Cors
  22. Clel Baudler
  23. Robert E. Mansell
  24. Patricia A. Clark
  25. Mark Keith Robinson

ELECTED TO TWO-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2022

  1. Paul D. Babaz
  2. Todd R. Ellis
  3. Dave Butz
  4. Ronald L. Schmeits

ELECTED FOR ONE-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2021:

  1. Niger Innis
  2. Anthony P. Colandro

NOT ELECTED:

  1. R. B. Rocky Marshall, Jr.
  2. Robert J. Wos
  3. John L. Cushman
  4. James L. Wallace
  5. Craig Swartz
  6. Kevin P. Hogan
  7. Frank C. Tait

I had been informed by multiple sources earlier that the delay in reporting results is tied to COVID-19 and the resultant stay-at-home orders. Normally, these results would have been available as the NRA Annual Meeting was to open.

As a reminder, I had endorsed only two people – Graham Hill and Frank Tait – for the board. Graham was elected and Frank was not. Both are good men and I had hopes that Frank’s business background and expertise would have been an asset on the Board.

I am assuming that the vote for the 76th Director will be held in Springfield, MO on Labor Day Weekend at the NRA Meeting. I could be wrong on that and, if so, I’ll immediately issue a correction.

UPDATE: There will be a vote on the 76th Director held in Springfield at the NRA Annual Meeting. Frank Tait has assured me he plans to run for that seat.

He has my vote!

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NC Rep. Joe John Responds To Constituents

July 9, 2020 by

As I wrote yesterday, NC State Rep. Joe John (D-Wake) was one of six state representatives that changed their vote on H652. The result was that Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D-NC) veto was sustained. The other result is that churches with attached schools remain dangerous gun-free zones with congregants put at risk.

Rep. John sent a form email out to people who had written him asking him to over-ride the veto.

Thank you for your email concerning the veto override vote on H 652. As you probably know, I originally voted for the bill. The balance of interests at that time seemed to favor a “Yes” vote. However, I wanted you to hear from me personally that I have subsequently determined otherwise and voted yesterday to sustain the Governor’s veto.

I take seriously my responsibility to represent all House District 40 constituents, including those whose political party affiliation may not match my own. I recognize that, in this instance, you will be disappointed by my override vote. However, I received numerous communications from educators and parents, also constituents, raising valid concerns which were not fully evident earlier. Supporting our school systems is one of my top priorities and, as such, their concerns persuaded me that sustaining the Governor’s veto was the appropriate course of action.

I respect that your views on this issue were important enough to you to express them to me as your elected Representative. I hope you will continue to do so in the future.

Best regards,

Representative Joe John

H652 never applied to “school systems”. It applied only to non-public schools which were co-located with churches.

The only non-public schools in North Carolina that are part of a “school system” are Catholic schools in the Dioceses of Charlotte and Raleigh. The bill contained a provision (Section 1a.(5)) that clarified that carry was forbidden in any church-school that was posted against carry. Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama of Raleigh and Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte have long made clear that carry is not welcome in Catholic churches.

Rep. John is engaging in sophistry. He wants you to think his backing of the governor’s veto was about protecting school children. It was nothing of the kind. It was a political favor owed to the governor and his progressive backers. The people of those congregations impacted be damned.

He must think his constituents are too stupid to be able to read the bill’s clear language. It is so clear that even a judge of long-standing like Joe John could not misconstrue it.

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The Black Swan Patch

July 9, 2020 by 1 Comment

I love patches. I already have more than I could reasonably stick on hats, display boards, or my messenger bag.

Nonetheless, when I saw this limited edition patch at CountyComm, I had to have it. It appears that they did a second run of these patches with a different background than mine.

I think you can understand why.

This patch epitomizes 2020 so simply.

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H652 Veto Over-Ride Fails In NC

July 8, 2020 by 5 Comments

The over-ride of anti-gun Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D-NC) veto of H652 – Second Amendment Protection Act failed in the House today. Here are the six Democrats who thought allegiance to the governor and Democrat Party was more important than protecting godly people.

In the original passage of the bill on June 25th, these Democrats voted in favor of passage and gave the bill an ostensible veto-proof majority.

Ayes (Democrat)Beasley; Brewer; Farmer-Butterfield; Floyd; Graham; John; Lucas; Pierce; Queen; Russell; B. Turner; Wray

Fast forward to this afternoon, July 8th, and these are the only Democrats who voted in favor of the veto over-ride.

Ayes (Democrat)Brewer; Floyd; Graham; Queen; Russell; Wray

Where there were 12, there are only six. The over-ride failed by a vote of 66-48. It needed 69 votes to pass and over-ride Gov. Cooper’s veto. It has been suggested that the only reason those six even bothered to vote in the affirmative is that they faced tougher re-elections.

Here are the six along with churches in their district that are co-located with schools. Because the state considers this “educational property”, they remain unprotected from the evil and deranged. I won’t name the churches or schools or locations but rest assured that they are within the counties these six represent.

Rep. Chaz Beasley (D-Mecklenburg) represents the 92nd NC House District. It is located in the southern part of Mecklenburg County and abuts the South Carolina border. Rep. Beasley is an attorney and is in his second term.

Rep. Chaz Beasley (D)

Here is a church in his district that he just put at risk because he rather obey the governor and party than to allow people going to church be protected.

Rep. Jean Farmer-Butterfield (D-Wilson) is in her 9th term representing the 24th NC House District. She lists her occupation as Consultant, Health and Human Services Professional. More importantly, her husband is US Representative G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1).

Rep. Jean Farmer-Butterfield (D)

This church and school are located in her district in Wilson County. However, it is not the church she and her husband attend. Then it might have a bit different.

Rep. Joe John (D-Wake) is in his 2nd term of office. He represents the 40th NC House District which is in NW Wake County. Prior to his election to the NC House, he served for many years as a judge on the NC Court of Appeals along with earlier service as a Superior Court judge and an Assistant District Attorney. Sadly, way back in the day, I actually worked the polls for him during one of his judicial elections.

Rep. Joe John (D)

This large church and school are located in Wake County within Rep. John’s district. I guess when you have worked so long in a space where you are always protected by armed guards that you fail to realize that others are not so lucky.

Rep. Marvin Lucas (D-Cumberland) is in his 10th term representing the 42nd NC House District. It adjoins Fort Bragg and includes communities like Spring Lake and the western part of Fayetteville. Lucas is a retired school principal.

Rep. Marvin Lucas (D)

This church and school are located in Cumberland County. It is just one of many that have put at risk by Rep. Lucas’ vote.

Rep. Garland Pierce (D – Hoke & Scotland) is in his 8th term representing the 48th NC House District. Pierce is the House Minority Whip. He is, interestingly enough, a Baptist minister. One would think he, of all people, might realize that churches are at risk.

Rep. Garland Pierce (D)

This church and school are in Rep. Pierce’s district. Obviously, it isn’t Bright Hopewell Baptist Church or he’d be more concerned.

Now we conclude with Rep. Brian Turner (D-Buncombe) who just happens to be my representative. Turner is in his 3rd term representing the 116th NC House District which consists of the southern and western parts of Buncombe County. Turner lists his current job as commercial real estate agent. Prior to that, he was the Executive VP and COO in his family’s military parachute business as well as serving a stint as the Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Corporate and Foundation Relations at UNC-Asheville.

I have had conversations with Turner in the past where he assures me he is pro-gun and has a carry permit. That said, he also believes in universal background checks and voted against doing away with the Jim Crow-era (and racist) pistol purchase permits.

Rep. Brian Turner (D)

Here are a couple of churches that are co-located with schools that his vote has put at risk. The small one is within a mile of my house.

And another larger church with a school here in Buncombe County.

There are many more churches that are now at risk throughout the state of North Carolina thanks to these six and the rest of their Democrat colleagues who voted to uphold the veto. The NC Department of Public Instruction publishes a list of every non-public school in the state by county. That list runs 81 pages. I would say that a majority of these schools are religious and many have attached churches.

Every Democrat – and it was all Democrats – who voted to uphold this veto should be ashamed of him or herself. The bill was explicit that firearms were not allowed on the church-school property during regular and extracurricular school hours. At a time when churches have increasingly become targets for the evil and deranged, they need to be able to protect their congregants and this bill would have allowed them to take that responsibility if they wished.

If I were the pastor of one of the churches impacted by this veto, I’d gather up my congregation and have a prayer vigil in the front of every one of these 48 Democrat state representatives’ homes. I would do it weekly and I would get the media involved. They need to understand that shame is a very powerful weapon.

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June 2020 Adjusted NICS Checks

July 7, 2020 by 1 Comment

The National Shooting Sports Foundation adjusted NICS figures have been released. June 2020, while having the most raw NICS checks on records, actually is behind March 2020 when adjusted for permit checks and rechecks.

Nonetheless, June was an impressive month and the first half of 2020 was likewise impressive.

From NSSF:

The June 2020 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 2,177,586 is an increase of 135.7 percent compared to the June 2019 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 924,054. For comparison, the unadjusted June 2020 FBI NICS figure 3,909,502 reflects a 70.6 percent increase from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2,291,066 in June 2019.

The second quarter 2020 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 5,451,599 reflects an increase of 92.8 percent over the 2,827,606 figure for first quarter 2019.

The NSSF-adjusted NICS figure for March 2020 was 2,375,525.

It should be pointed out the states of Alabama and Michigan have had their qualified alternatives under the Brady Law removed in 2019 and 202 respectively. This means in those states, you can no longer use a carry permit as a substitute for a NICS check. That raised the percentage of NICS checks in those states by over 400% compared to last June.

To see how June 2020 compared to the month of June in past years, look at this graphic. You can see that it just skyrockets!

As I remind everyone when I post these numbers, neither the raw nor the adjusted-NICS checks are a one to one correlation with gun sales. They do not capture private sales where legal, they don’t capture sales where an alternative is accepted, and they don’t figure in multiple firearms sold with one NICS check. The Form 4473 has room on it for up to four firearms per transaction. Thus, it is safe to assume the actual number of firearms sold in the month of June is well past 2.1 million.

Now if all those new gun owners will vote the Second Amendment, we should be in good shape. Time will tell.